Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment is a literal rendering of the Hebrew, which has been interpreted in various ways. Translating the last Hebrew word of the line as judgment means that God has beaten Israel in order to punish her—in this context, by means of an invading army. The word can also mean “rights,” so New American Bible renders crushed in judgment as “his rights [are] violated.” Good News Translation has expanded this meaning to “she has lost land that was rightfully hers.” Wolff is similar with “justice is crushed.” This meaning is possible, but a reference to Israel’s rights does not seem suitable in this context, where her sin is denounced. Since the word can also mean “verdict,” we prefer rendering this whole line as “Ephraim is oppressed, crushed by the verdict” (similarly Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Moreover, the conjunction at the beginning of the next line (because) introduces the reason for the verdict. NET Bible also offers a good model, saying “Ephraim will be oppressed, crushed under judgment.” For Ephraim as another name for “Israel” (Good News Translation), see 4.17.

In the first line some translations use future tense (New Living Translation, NET Bible), others use present tense (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling) and one uses past tense (Contemporary English Version). The Hebrew text uses passive participles, so the translator must look at the context for the correct verb tense. In view of the preceding paragraph and the wider context (the prophesies against Israel because of its persistent unfaithfulness), the use of past tense is not recommended.

Because he was determined to go after vanity: This line expresses why God allowed Israel to be oppressed and crushed. The masculine pronoun he refers to Israel, while Good News Translation uses the feminine pronoun “she.” Translators should use the correct pronoun for their language, which may pertain to gender, but also to issues such as word class of geographical names. The Hebrew phrase rendered was determined to go expresses stubborn insistence. Good News Translation says “insisted on going.” There is also the possibility that the verb translated determined may mean “began” in the Hebrew dialect of northern Israel. We prefer “began to go,” but translators may choose the renderings of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation for this phrase. The receptor language may have a good expression for the idea of “determination”; for example, Bible en français courant says “has put it in his head,” meaning “has made up his mind.”

Instead of vanity, the Hebrew text has “commandment” (King James Version; see the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation footnotes), but this word does not make sense in the context. Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint, which seems to have emended the Hebrew word to one that means “nothingness” (Jerusalem Bible) or “mirage /illusion” (Bible en français courant). New International Version finds that the emended term refers to “idols” in Jer 18.15 and therefore translates thus here. This meaning fits with Hosea’s repeated denunciation of idolatry in Israel and is the interpretation of Brown, Driver, and Briggs in their lexicon. Good News Translation interprets the emended word in this context to mean “those who had none to give” (that is, no help to give), and this meaning fits with 5.13. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers not to emend at all but to understand the Hebrew word to mean “dung.” New American Bible is similar with the euphemism “filth.” “Dung” is a shocking metaphor for all of Israel’s wickedness, including idolatry or anything else in which Israel trusted instead of Yahweh. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project‘s reading seems to be the best, although it too is uncertain (a {C} decision).

A translation model for this verse is:

• Ephraim is oppressed, crushed by the verdict,
because it insisted on going after filth.

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 .