In the first part of this verse the farming imagery continues. God commanded goodness (10.12), but Israel practiced evil. In the Hebrew text of this verse the connections are not clear, since it has only one conjunction (rendered Because). Good News Translation makes the first connection clear by adding “But instead.” New International Version and New Living Translation also add “But.”

You have plowed iniquity: The verb plowed follows the Hebrew. This is the very first thing a farmer does if he wants to have a crop. So from the very beginning Israel has sinned. Plowing in Palestine is immediately followed by sowing. So Good News Translation and New International Version are justified in using “planted,” which is the figure used in English for beginning evil. Translators have to consider the understanding of plowed in the receptor culture and use a term that shows the earliest thing a farmer does to prepare for a crop. New Living Translation uses a slightly different agricultural verb, “cultivated.” The Hebrew word for iniquity has connotations of breaking the law, so “lawlessness” is a good translation option.

You have reaped injustice: Because Israel has started with evil, it now suffers from its own evil. Reaped renders the same Hebrew verb used in 10.12. It is a general term for cutting a plant in order to get what one needs from the plant. A related term in Arabic seems to give the sense of grasping several stalks together and cutting them at once, as when harvesting wheat, but it probably is better to use a general term for gathering a harvest. The Hebrew word for injustice refers to people being treated in an unfair manner, not according to the law. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “iniquity,” but that term is more general. Good News Translation‘s “its harvest” is not very clear. This rendering sounds rather neutral, while a clear negative idea is intended. According to this line, a result of Israel’s evil and lawlessness was that they now suffer from their own evil as they experience more and worse evil, especially in things that they may feel they do not deserve. But they do deserve it.

You have eaten the fruit of lies expresses the final part of the process of planting, reaping, and now eating. The Israelites have spoken lies, and now they experience worse trouble as a result. The text does not state to whom the lies were spoken. It could be both to God and to their neighbors. In view of the implied connections with the law in the preceding lines, this word could also refer to their covenant relationship. The Hebrew word for lies is rendered “treachery” in 7.3 (see comments there). Here it may be best to leave it as a general expression without saying exactly to whom or about what the lies were spoken. A term such as “deception” seems to be the best option.

Because you have trusted in your chariots and in the multitude of your warriors: These two lines are rightly taken by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation as giving the reason for the attack threatened in the next verse, so they can be translated in a way that continues the sentence into that verse. Because translates the Hebrew word ki. Here it emphatically introduces some of the wrongs that Israel has done, leading to the result described in the next verse. However, this connector can also be taken as introducing the grounds for the behavior described in the preceding three lines (so NET Bible; see also the model below). If this is done, it is not necessary to start a new sentence here.

Instead of chariots, the Hebrew text has “way” (King James Version). Chariots (also Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) follows the Septuagint, and this meaning seems to be a better parallel to warriors and seems to fit better with the context. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project favors the Hebrew text (a {B} decision, but not unanimous, according to Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament‘s understanding is that Israel was not known for its many chariots the way Egypt was, for example. Other commentators differ strongly with this view. Following the Hebrew, “your way” may refer to their political way of doing things. Another interpretation of the Hebrew word is “strength” (New International Version) or “power” (New Revised Standard Version). Along with trusting in their warriors, the Israelites were also trusting in their own “way” of doing things and in their own military strength, instead of trusting in God.

The Hebrew term for warriors refers to “mighty men,” who are more than just ordinary soldiers. However, not all languages are able to make such distinctions.

A translation model for this verse is:

• However, you have plowed lawlessness,
you have reaped injustice,
you have eaten the fruit of deception,
because you have trusted in your strength,
in your many mighty soldiers.

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .