This verse explains that in addition to not enjoying the bounty of the harvest (verse 2), the people of Israel will have to leave Yahweh’s land. Some, like Jacob’s family in the days of Joseph, will have to go to Egypt for food, while others will be in Assyria. As it turned out, those who went to Assyria did so as captives, not by their own free will.
In the previous two verses Good News Translation referred to Israel in the second person, but here it switches to third person. Translators should follow what is best in their receptor language. But in any case, it is recommended to be consistent: follow the Hebrew pronominal switches, or refer to Israel with second person pronouns throughout this section.
They shall not remain in the land of the LORD …: The actors in this verse are identified in the second line as Ephraim. For clarity Good News Translation identifies them in this line by rendering the pronoun They as “The people of Israel.” For Ephraim as another name for Israel, see 4.11.
The land of the LORD, of course, is Palestine (compare “my land” in Jer 2.7). Hosea was the earliest prophet to use the expression the land of the LORD, which implies that Yahweh controls who may dwell there and who may not. The land is his. It does not belong to the people.
But Ephraim shall return to Egypt …: Going to Egypt and Assyria implies that the Israelites will have to leave Palestine as exiles. Some scholars interpret this line in a symbolic sense of returning to bondage, but 8.13 and 9.6 as well as 11.5, 11 make it probable that a literal return of some Israelites to Egypt is intended (see comments on 8.13). A possible model is “but some of you will have to go back to Egypt.”
And they shall eat unclean food in Assyria: Unclean food does not mean “dirty food,” but food that was ceremonially impure and “forbidden” (Good News Translation) for the Israelites. Why was the food in Assyria improper for Israelites? Certainly, things like pork were forbidden as unclean. But some scholars think that, because Assyria was a pagan land, it was impure, polluted, and all its food was therefore impure and polluted for Israelites. The next verse gives support to the view that the food in Assyria would be impure for Israelites because there was no Temple of Yahweh there, and it would therefore be impossible to offer to him the first fruits (Exo 22.29; 23.19; Lev 23.10-11) and the firstborn of domestic animals (Exo 13.12). Therefore, vegetable and animal food in Assyria was impure for Israelites. In some receptor languages the concept of unclean food is familiar and does not require further explanation. Otherwise, translators can follow the model of Bijbel in Gewone Taal: “food that the Lord has forbidden” (similarly Good News Translation).
A translation model for this verse is:
• You, Israel, will not remain in the land of the LORD.
But you will return to Egypt,
or eat unclean food in Assyria.
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 .