Ephraim herds the wind, and pursues the east wind all day long: Once again Good News Translation renders Ephraim as “Israel” for clarity (see comments on 4.17). There is a problem with the Hebrew verb rendered herds, which normally means “pasture,” “tend,” or “feed.” However, since Hosea uses the Hebrew dialect of northern Israel, the preferred sense of this verb is “desire” or “want.” And this meaning is synonymous with the parallel verb pursues. These two parallel lines use the figurative language of chasing the wind, which means that what the people do is “useless” (Good News Translation). The east wind refers to the hot wind that blows across Israel as it comes from the desert east of Israel.

Good News Translation renders these two parallel lines with nonfigurative language, saying “Everything that the people of Israel do from morning to night is useless and destructive.” The decision to maintain or abandon the poetic images fully depends on the type of translation one wants to produce, as well as on the expressive power of the images in the receptor culture. Changing the images certainly reduces the expressiveness of the translation. New American Bible maintains the imagery, saying “Ephraim chases the wind, ever pursuing the gale.” Contemporary English Version also keeps the imagery, but combines the two lines: “All day long Israel chases wind from the desert.”

They multiply falsehood and violence: This poetic line stands alone in the verse. It means the people of Israel are very deceitful and violent. The pronoun they is literally “he,” referring to Ephraim. As in Revised Standard Version, many languages may need to use a plural pronoun to refer to the people of this group. It is not clear whether falsehood and violence are what the people of Israel do to each other, or what they do to others, such as Assyria and Egypt. These two countries were to the north and the south of Israel, and they would often wage war with each other (see 7.11). And Israel was caught in the middle. However, since these two nations are not mentioned until the last two lines of this verse, it seems better to understand this line as referring to what the Israelites do to each other; for example, Good News Translation says “Treachery and acts of violence increase among them.” It may also be possible to leave it open in translation.

They make a bargain with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt: These two parallel lines show how Israel deals with the countries to the north and to the south. For they make a bargain, which is literally “they cut a covenant,” see the comments on 2.18. Good News Translation says “They make treaties,” but the Hebrew word for bargain is singular, and there is no compelling reason to deviate from this.

Good News Translation renders oil is carried to Egypt as “do business with Egypt,” which gives the general meaning of the specific expression in Hebrew. The oil would have been olive oil, not petroleum oil (see comments on 2.5b). Wolff understands the oil as sent to ratify a treaty with Egypt, to make it official. This understanding would show Israel to be making treaties with both Egypt and Assyria, and this is the preferred meaning of these lines. Revised English Bible says “he makes a treaty with Assyria and carries tribute of oil to Egypt.”

A translation model for this verse is:

• Ephraim chases the wind,
they pursue the desert wind all day.
They add deceit to violence.
They cut out a covenant with Assyria,
and take olive oil as a present to Egypt.

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 .