Good News Translation begins a new paragraph here, so that the threats in this verse apply to both the figure of the dove and that of the unturned loaf. Revised Standard Version‘s stanza break before verse 14 seems to break the flow of a unified theme and should not be followed.

Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!: These two lines clearly form a parallelism in which the second line is more intense than the first one. Woe to them is expressed by Good News Translation in modern English as “They are doomed!” The Hebrew word for Woe occurs only here and in 9.12 in Hosea. It expresses a feeling of anguish or distress, either one’s own anguish or that felt for another. It should be regarded as a curse. The parallel clause, Destruction to them, shows that this is God’s planned punishment, not merely something that will happen by chance. In this context both expressions may be understood as a curse or threat. The second line is more intense, both in the threat and in the reason for the threat. In the first line the verb strayed suggests that the Israelites may have sinned thoughtlessly. However, the context shows that their actions were deliberate. Strayed from me is better rendered “fled from me” (New Jerusalem Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “left me” (Good News Translation). The Hebrew expression for they rebelled against me refers to a form of mutiny, deliberately going against God.

I would redeem them: This clause begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”), which Revised Standard Version omits. The model below keeps it. The independent Hebrew pronoun for I is emphatic, so it may be rendered “I even I.” The verb for redeem has been interpreted in several ways: “I long to redeem them” (New International Version; similarly Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “I was their Redeemer” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “I have rescued them again and again” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “I wanted to save them” (Good News Translation; similarly Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The first and the last interpretations are the most likely, and a translator is free to choose either one. The Hebrew verb for redeem is found in commercial law for restoring a person or thing that was temporarily held by someone else; a price is not necessarily involved, and the person or thing may be simply set free or else restored to the true owner. In the context of Hosea’s marriage, the term recalls not only the price paid in 3.2 but the effort to regain the (first) wife; the parallel effort of Yahweh for Israel seems to be the message here. Good News Translation‘s “I wanted to save them” should be followed only if it fits in suitably with this context. Other options are “I should liberate them” (Bible en français courant) and “I would have rescued them” (Contemporary English Version).

But they speak lies against me would be easier to translate if we knew the type of lies here. The lies may have been false information about Yahweh by which the Israelites led each other into false worship; for example, New Living Translation says “but they have told lies about me” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “Yet they have plotted treason against Me,” but this model does not seem to translate lies correctly. A better interpretation of lies is that of Wolff, who recalls the Israelites’ false repentance (6.1-3), proven false by their attitudes, the unjust dealings of their courts, and their foreign policy. The word “betray” reflects such connotations (see the model below). God has a hard time reaching past their dishonesty to rescue them. Good News Translation‘s “but their worship of me was false” is possible but is restricted to only one segment of what may have been involved and therefore is not recommended.

A translation model for this verse is:

• Disaster to them! The have fled from me.
Destruction to them! They have rebelled against me.
And I? I had wanted to liberate them,
but they betrayed 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 .