complete verse (Hosea 12:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 12:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “God is saying,
    ‘Israel is like merchants who are thieves,
    who takes a bit away from the things they sell.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Those who do business use false scales.
    They love to cheat.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The LORD said, ‘Your (plur.) business/merchants are-fond of cheating; they use not the right weighing-scales.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The merchants among you use scales that do not weigh correctly;
    they love/like to cheat people.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Hosea 12:7

For 12.7-14 Good News Translation has the heading “Further Words of Judgment.” Verse 6 speaks about how things ought to be. The following verses are like earlier ones, for they again speak about the sins the people have committed and how God will punish them.

Verses 7-8 contrast with the theme of verse 6, since they describe how the people do not show steadfast love and justice toward each other.

At the beginning of this verse Good News Translation adds the quote frame “The LORD says” to indicate the speaker in verses 7-11. However, it is not until verse 9 that Yahweh is clearly speaking. This is why we prefer to begin a new section with its heading at verse 7.

Some translations make the addressees explicit here by adding the vocative “Ephraim” (Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “Israel” (Contemporary English Version), or “Israelites” (Bijbel in Gewone Taal). All the people of the northern kingdom of Israel are addressed here.

A trader, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress: The Hebrew word for trader is virtually the same as the name for “Canaan.” Good News Translation assumes that this is a play on words, and that Israel is being compared with the Canaanites. This is probably true, but a play on words can seldom be translated into another language. Mays comments that this “is a scornful nickname hurled at Ephraim.” But the basic meaning for the Hebrew word here is trader, referring to a typical merchant in the nation of Israel. His cheating is an example of the way the people of Israel treat each other. Translators who use footnotes to the text may wish to insert one here, for example, “The Hebrew words for ‘trader’ and ‘Canaan’ are spelled the same way, and the prophet may be comparing the Israelites to their pagan Canaanite neighbors.” New International Version uses the following footnote: “merchant. As Hosea had played on the meaning of Jacob in v. 2, he here uses a wordplay on Canaan (the Hebrew for ‘merchant’ sounds like Canaan) to charge that Israel was no better than a Canaanite.”

False balances (Good News Translation “false scales”), which is literally “balance scales of deceit,” refers to the scales the merchant is using as he measures out the things he is buying or selling. By moving the scales in a certain way, or by using weights that are too heavy or too light, he can cheat his customers by giving them less than what they are paying for. In the Old Testament false scales became symbolic for dishonesty (Pro 11.1; 20.23; Amos 8.5).

In whose hands are false balances means the merchant carries these dishonest scales with him; they are his property.

He loves to oppress means he enjoys cheating people. Oppress is one meaning of the Hebrew verb here, but it also means to “wrong” people, or to “extort” from them, especially those who are poor and cannot help themselves against the person doing wrong. In this context of the false scales, the idea of cheating people seems to be the main thought. Good News Translation makes this clear by saying “they love to cheat their customers with false scales.”

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders this verse as “The LORD says: ‘You have become a merchant-people, Ephraim, after the example of the Canaanites! With falsified weights you deceive the people.’ ” Another possible model is:

• The LORD says, “Ephraim, you are a trader using false scales!
You love ripping off your people.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Hosea 12:7

Paragraph 12:7–8

In the previous paragraph, Hosea urged the people to return to God. This paragraph describes what the people do instead. They become wealthy through fraud and deceit, but they deny that they have sinned.

In Hebrew, the speaker is not identified. It may be Hosea or the LORD. Most versions leave the identity of the speaker implied. Some versions supply “the LORD says.” The Notes and the Display will assume that Hosea continues to speak here.

12:7

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

A merchant loves to defraud;

with dishonest scales in his hands.

These lines compare Israel to a dishonest merchant. Most versions leave this comparison to Israel implied. Some versions make it explicit. For example:

Israel, you enjoy cheating (Contemporary English Version)

A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands: In Hebrew, this clause is more literally “Canaan/merchant in his hand [are] scales of deceit, he loves to defraud.” This description is probably a figure of speech (synecdoche) in which deceitful scales in the hand represents general dishonesty in business dealings. For example:

The businessmen love to cheat (NET Bible)

A merchant: In Hebrew, this word is literally “canaan.” In Hosea’s time, this word could mean merchant. This is probably the main meaning here, and it refers to the people of Israel. However, in some contexts, this word refers to the land that the people of Israel conquered and occupied, or to the people who lived in the land before the Israelites came. Here the word may be a wordplay in which it means both merchant and “Canaanite” simultaneously. If so, the word may link the wicked behavior of the Israelites with that of the Canaanites. Most modern versions translate the Hebrew word as A merchant or something similar. Some versions make the double meaning explicit. For example:

The people of Israel are as dishonest as the Canaanites; they love to cheat their customers with false scales.

loves to defraud: This clause makes an even stronger accusation about the dishonesty of the Israelites. The Hebrew word for defraud means “oppress” or “exploit.” It refers to the abuse of power or authority against people of lower status. The Hebrew form of the word loves indicates an ongoing action. The merchant regularly takes delight in defrauding people. Here are additional examples:

…taking advantage of others (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
To defraud is his delight. (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
He loves to oppress. (English Standard Version)

with dishonest scales: scales were made of a bar from which hung two balanced surfaces. A merchant used stone weights to determine the value of the money he charged. The phrase with dishonest scales refers to cheating by improperly suspending the balance or by altering the weights.” The same Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as dishonest here is translated as “deceit” in 11:12. Here are some other ways to translate the phrase:

false scales (Good News Translation)
-or-
false balances (Revised Standard Version)

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