complete verse (Hosea 1:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 1:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “When Lo-ruhamah had been weaned, Gomer again became pregnant and bore another boy.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “After Gomer weaned her daughter of milk, she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When Gomer had- already -weaned her child Lo-Ruhamah, she became-pregnant again and gave-birth to a male/(son).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When Gomer weaned Lo-Ruhama, she-got-pregnant again and a male is who she gave-birth-to.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “After Gomer had weaned/stopped breast-feeding Lo-ruhamah, she became pregnant again, and she gave birth to another son.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Hosea 1:8

When or “After” (Good News Translation) renders well the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”) in this context. Here it introduces the next event.

She had weaned Not pitied: It was customary for Israelite mothers to nurse babies for two or three years before weaning them, and there may have been a family celebration at that time (see, for example, Gen 21.8). As indicated in this verse, a mother usually became pregnant again only after she stopped nursing the baby. It may be necessary to translate the pronoun she as “Gomer” (Good News Translation) for clarity. For the name Not pitied, see 1.6. Not pitied is referred to as “her daughter” in Good News Translation. The way to handle this name in translation depends on the receptor language. Which solution is clearer or more natural? It also depends on the type of translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “her daughter ‘No mercy.’ ” We do not recommend this double reference.

She conceived and bore a son: Compare 1.3 and 1.6 for the style of narrating these births. As in 1.6, the pronoun “him” (referring to Hosea) is not present in the text.

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 1:8

Paragraph 1:8–9

This paragraph tells about the birth of Gomer’s third child. Once again, the LORD told Hosea to give his child a name that would communicate a message of judgment to the people of Israel. This was the third and most severe judgment. In Exodus 6:7, the LORD described to Moses the covenant he would later make with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. He said, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.” (See also Leviticus 26:12). For many generations the people of Israel continued to break their covenant with the LORD and continued to reject him. As a result, the LORD negated the words of the covenant by saying: “you are not my people, and I am not your God.” (See the note on 1:9b.)

1:8

After she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, Gomer conceived and gave birth to a son: As in 1:6a, the verse does not explicitly say that Hosea is the father, but it is implied here.

After she had weaned Lo-ruhamah: Unlike 1:6a, the author added these words to indicate that a certain amount of time (perhaps three years or so) passed by between the births of these two children.

Gomer conceived and gave birth to a son: Refer to the way you translated the similar expressions in 1:3b and 1:6a. For example:

she became pregnant again and had another son (Good News Translation)

© 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.