I will destroy you, O Israel; who can help you?: This verse has difficult textual and translation problems. Revised Standard Version follows an emended text, mostly based on the Septuagint and the Peshitta. A literal translation of the Hebrew text is:

He/It has destroyed you, Israel,
because with/in me [is] with/in your help.

This literal translation illustrates that the basic problem is simply trying to understand the Hebrew text in the present context. The context supports the renderings of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation for this verse, although it is possible to remain closer to the Hebrew text, as in De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling: “It will be fatal to you, Israel, that you are dependent on my help!”

The pronouns “you” and “your” are singular in the Hebrew, not plural, referring to the people of Israel as if one person (as in verses 4-5).

The Hebrew verb for “He/It has destroyed you” is in the perfect tense, as if it had already happened. But this can be considered “prophetic perfect,” that is, we are so sure it will happen that it is as though it had already happened: “You are surely destroyed.” However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers to understand this verb as a noun that means “Your destruction” (a {C} decision).

Who can help you? (similarly Good News Translation) follows the Septuagint and the Peshitta. This reading is based on a slightly different underlying Hebrew text. As noted above, the Hebrew has “because with/in me [is] with/in your help” (see Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation footnotes). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Hebrew text with a {C} decision.

Hebrew Old Testament Text Project provides three possible ways of understanding and translating this verse:

(1) That which has caused your destruction, O Israel, is that you are against me, who am your help.

(2) That which has caused your destruction, O Israel, is that in me alone is your help [while you looked for it elsewhere].

(3) That which has caused your destruction, O Israel, is that in me you look for your help [that is, trusting blindly in my longsuffering and patience].

Some modern translations are as follows:

Revised English Bible: I have destroyed you, Israel;
who is there to help you? (similarly Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem)

New International Version: You are destroyed, O Israel,
because you are against me, against your helper.

New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh: You are undone, O Israel!
You had no help but Me.

New Jerusalem Bible: Israel, you have destroyed yourself
though in me lies your help.

Another possible model is:

• Israel, it will be destructive to you
to depend on my help!

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 .