My God will cast them off …: The pronoun My refers to the prophet Hosea, signaling that what follows records the prophet’s words, not those of Yahweh. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version make this explicit in their section headings that precede this verse. Some languages may prefer only a paragraph or stanza break to mark the change of speaker from the LORD in the preceding two verses to the prophet here (so Revised Standard Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

The function of this verse appears to be very nearly the same as 9.14, although this is a statement rather than a prayer. The prophet is reaffirming Yahweh’s message of judgment.

There is significance in the phrase My God, which Good News Translation renders “The God I serve.” Yahweh is Hosea’s God, but the other Israelites for the most part have rejected Yahweh and have been rejected by him, so that Yahweh is not their God.

The Hebrew verb for cast … off (Good News Translation “reject”) involves a conscious decision against someone so as to have no further relations. This verb strengthens the image of a divorce, even though it is not limited to describing a divorce. Most languages have a variety of words for the idea of rejecting people.

Because they have not hearkened to him means more than not hearing God. It means “they have not obeyed him.” Good News Translation says “because they have not listened to him.”

They shall be wanderers among the nations is a prediction of exile for the people of Israel. In 7.13 the Hebrew verb for wanderers is rendered “strayed from,” where it was used of their wandering from Yahweh, but now it is used to predict their homelessness.

A translation model for this verse is:

• My God will disown you,
because you have not listened to him.
You will be wandering among the peoples.

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 .