Good News Translation shows the relation between this verse and the next one by beginning with “Even though.” The Israelites’ words sound faithful, but their actions are not.

To me they cry: The Hebrew verb for cry (also used in 7.14) refers to a loud shout, sometimes a call for help or a complaint. Here it refers to praying aloud, perhaps as a group in worship. Bible en français courant adds a tone of irony: “They cry so well to me.” Andersen and Freedman also interpret this verse as irony. Given the fact that a logical connection with the preceding and following verses is otherwise hard to understand, this is a viable option.

My God, we Israel know thee is literally “My God we know you Israel.” The words in this line do not fit well together as one sentence in the Hebrew text. There are three separate words, literally “my God,” “we know you,” and then simply “Israel.” These may be individual examples of the kinds of pious statements the Israelites make, especially when they are returning to worship Yahweh after they have been worshiping another god! My God is an individual’s call to God, but we … know thee is plural. Following Wolff, we can say “ ‘My God! We know you, we who are Israel.’ ” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests “my God!, we know you, [because we are] Israel” (a {C} decision). New English Bible emends the Hebrew text to read “We know thee, God of Israel,” but this reading is not supported by any ancient version. Good News Translation changes the Israelites’ cry to indirect discourse, which makes the problem easier to solve: “they call me their God and claim that they are my people and that they know me.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) retains only My God as direct discourse: “Of course, they cry ‘My God!’ They claim that they know me; they use for reference that they are my people Israel.”

De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling makes the irony in this verse explicit to avoid misunderstanding: “Hear them cry, ‘O God, are you not ours? We are your Israel!’ ” Another model that does this is:

• Hear them pray, ‘O God, you are ours!
We, Israel, are yours!’

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 .