For introduces the reason why the Assyrian king will not be able to help Israel and Judah. Good News Translation omits it, but it does show the connection of this verse with the previous one. However, the Hebrew word rendered For (ki) may be an emphatic particle here, so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh begins this verse with “No, I will be like a lion to Ephraim….”
I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah: The lion is regularly used as a symbol of fierceness and of destruction. Although this animal is a symbol for Judah itself (Gen 49.9), here Yahweh pictures himself as a lion, and the role of protection is reversed into one of destruction. A young lion is a simile for youthful energy and strength; this is no old and tired lion. Since the two terms are parallel, they are considered a single idea, so Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch mention “lion” only once. Again, the parallel form of lines one and two show that Ephraim and Judah receive equal punishment. Israel and Judah were attacked by Assyria, but the prophet sees Assyria as the means of God’s judgment, so God himself is said to attack them.
I, even I, will rend and go away, I will carry off, and none shall rescue: At the start of these lines the pronoun I is repeated for emphasis. In the Hebrew text the first person singular is actually indicated three times, including as an affix on the verbs for rend, go away, and carry off, so these lines begin literally with “I, I, I will….” Also, in these lines every word except the last word begins with the Hebrew letter alef (except for two words that begin with the waw conjunction, rendered and). The first three verbs here are literally “I will rend … I will go … I will carry….” Poetically, all this comes together to form a strong statement, showing God’s strong determination to do these things. And when these things take place, no one should imagine that the harm comes from any other source than from God himself.
The verb rend refers to the way a lion tears the body of its victim apart in order to eat it. Good News Translation says “tear them to pieces.”
The verb go away not only indicates that the lion will not be found after it has destroyed its prey, but that Yahweh will not be present with his people. This idea will be further developed in 5.15.
The verb carry off refers to a lion dragging its prey away, and so go away should not be translated in a way that implies the lion has left behind the animal it has killed. Lions will sometimes drag their victims away to a place where they can finish eating without being disturbed. Some translations combine these verbs, so that when the lion goes away it carries the victim along; for example, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates “I will depart with my prey.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “stride away, carrying the prey,” and Bible en français courant has “leave by carrying it along.” The lion dragging its prey away probably symbolizes Israel being taken into captivity by Assyria in 722 B.C. In 701 B.C. Assyria also attacked Jerusalem, but was unable to conquer it.
And none shall rescue is literally “and no one will snatch away” in the sense of not being able to remove prey from the mouth of an animal (see also the last line of 2.10).
A translation model for this verse is:
• No, I will attack Ephraim like a lion,
and the people of Judah like a young lion.
I myself will tear them to pieces.
I will go and drag them away.
There will be no one to snatch them from me.
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 .