Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left: The climax at the end of the previous verse is expanded here. The threatened judgment goes beyond denying new children to the wiping out of existing children. Even if renders a Hebrew marker of emphasis, which strengthens the threat, in case any parents would imagine they had escaped the childless condition threatened in the previous verse. Bring up children refers to raising children toward adulthood.

I will bereave them till none is left refers specifically to taking away all children through death. Till none is left is literally “from man.” The Hebrew preposition for “from” is the same one used in the last line of the previous verse. “From man” means no person will be left. There will remain not even one child as their next generation. Some interpret this phrase to mean “before they become adults” (so New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Andersen and Freedman), but in view of the above analysis, this is not recommended. Good News Translation has a clear model of this line: “I would take them away and not leave one alive.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “I will take them away from them until no one is left,” and New International Version has simply “I will bereave them of every one.”

Woe to them when I depart from them!: These two lines begin with an emphatic Hebrew expression that is similar to the one at the beginning of this verse. It is literally “Even also,” which has the sense of “Even worse” in this context. The thought of these lines is that for Yahweh to abandon the Israelites will be even worse than losing their children. Revised Standard Version‘s Woe to them loses the emphasis. Better models are “Woe to them indeed” (New Revised Standard Version), “Yes, woe also to them” (Zürcher Bibel), and “Yes, woe also to them personally” (Einheitsübersetzung). For Woe to them, see 7.13. In this context Good News Translation expresses it well with “terrible things will happen to them.”

When I depart from them makes clear when these terrible things will happen. They will occur when the LORD abandons the people. Some commentators take this line as a reference to the loss of Israel’s glory mentioned in the first line of 9.11 (see comments there).

A translation model for this verse is:

• Even if you raise children,
I will take them, no one will be left.
It will be even worse for you,
when I desert you!

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 .