וְהִיא֙ לֹ֣א יָֽדְעָ֔ה כִּ֤י אָֽנֹכִי֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לָ֔הּ הַדָּגָ֖ן וְהַתִּיר֣וֹשׁ וְהַיִּצְהָ֑ר וְכֶ֨סֶף הִרְבֵּ֥יתִי לָ֛הּ וְזָהָ֖ב עָשׂ֥וּ לַבָּֽעַל׃
8She did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil
and who lavished upon her silver
and gold that they used for Baal.
In Gbaya, the notion of total closure, a blocked path (as in a wall that is being built) in Hosea 2:8 is emphasized with ndíyɛ-ndíyɛ, an ideophone used to describe the pounding feeling inside one’s chest.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “grain” (or: “corn”) is translated in Kui as “(unthreshed) rice.” Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) explains: “Padddy [unthreshed rice] is the main crop of the country and rice the staple diet of the people, besides which [grain] is unknown and there is no word for it, and it seemed to us that paddy and rice in the mind of the Kui people stood for all that corn meant to the Jews.” “Paddy” is also the translation in Pa’o Karen (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. ).
Other translations include: “wheat” (Teutila Cuicatec), “corn” (Lalana Chinantec), “things to eat” (Morelos Nahuatl), “grass corn” (wheat) (Chichimeca-Jonaz) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “millet” (Lambya) (source: project-specific notes in Paratext), “food” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)or ntimumma lujia / “seeds for food” (Lokạạ — “since Lokạạ does not have specific terms for maize and rice that can be described as grains”) (source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
The Hebrew and Greek that is typically transliterated as “Baal” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “idol.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
“Baal” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España
In the English translation by Goldingay (2018) it is translated as Master.
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Baal .
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are translated as “wine” in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “grape juice pressed long ago (= fermented)” or “strong water” (source: Daud Soesilo). In Guhu-Samane it is also translated as “strong water” (source: Ernest L. Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. ), in Noongar as “liquor” (verbatim: “strong water”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Hausa as ruwan inabi or “water of grapes” (with no indication whether it’s alcoholic or not — source: Mark A. Gaddis), in sar as kasə nduú or “grape drink” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin), or in Papantla Totonac and Coyutla Totonac as “a drink like Pulque” (for “Pulque,” see here ) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ).
In Swahili, Bible translations try to avoid local words for alcoholic drinks, because “drinking of any alcohol at all was one of the sins most denounced by early missionaries. Hence translators are uncomfortable by the occurrences of wine in the Bible. Some of the established churches which use wine prefer to see church wine as holy, and would not refer to it by the local names used for alcoholic drinks. Instead church wine is often referred to by terms borrowed from other languages, divai (from German, der Wein) or vini/mvinyo (from ltalian/Latin vino/vinum). Several translations done by Protestants have adapted the Swahili divai for ‘wine,’ while those done by Catholics use vini or mvinyo.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 221ff. )
The Swahili divai was in turn borrowed by Sabaot and was turned into tifaayiik and is used as such in the Bible. Kupsabiny, on the other hand, borrowed mvinyo from Swahili and turned it into Finyonik. (Source: Iver Larsen)
In Nyamwezi, two terms are used. Malwa ga muzabibu is a kind of alcohol that people specifically use to get drunk (such as in Genesis 9:21) and ki’neneko is used for a wine made from grapes (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In some Hindi translations (such as the Common Language version, publ. 2015 ), one term (dākharasa दाखरस — grape juice) is used when that particular drink is in the focus (such as in John 2) and another term (madirā मदिरा — “alcohol” or “liquor”) when drunkenness is in the focus (such as in Eph. 5:18).
In Mandarin Chinese, the generic term jiǔ (酒) or “alcohol(ic drink)” is typically used. Exceptions are Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deuteronomy 29:6, Judges 13:4 et al., 1 Samuel 1:15, and Luke 1:15 where a differentiation between weak and strong alcohol is needed. The Mandarin Chinese Union Version (2010) translates that as qīngjiǔ lièjiǔ (清酒烈酒) and dànjiǔ lièjiǔ (淡酒烈酒), both in the form of a Chinese proverb and meaning “light alcohol and strong drink.” (Source: Zetzsche)
See also proceeds from the vine / anything that comes from the grapevine, wine (Japanese honorifics), filled with new wine, and wine (Gen 27:28).
The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 2:8:
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
This verse starts with the Hebrew waw conjunction, which is rendered And. New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and New International Version omit it. In the described sequence of events this is a good solution. However, it is also possible that this conjunction introduces a contrast with the preceding verses, so NET Bible renders it “Yet,” and the New Century Version uses “But.”
She did not know that it was I who gave her …: A new accusation begins here, in which Yahweh says that Israel did not know that he was the source of agricultural products and of precious metals obtained through commerce. Israel in fact did know this as part of their tradition, but it is as if they carelessly forgot it, or they behaved as though they forgot it. Good News Translation renders know as “acknowledge,” which implies that Israel knew but would not admit openly that Yahweh provided for them. The Hebrew verb for know does not suggest anything other than ignorance of Yahweh’s help, but the historical context shows that they knew better, so “acknowledge” is a valid option. Alternative translations are “realize” (New Living Translation) and “understood” (Harper).
As in 2.2, she and I render independent pronouns in Hebrew. Unlike in 2.2, here these independent pronouns still occur even though the two verbs involved (know and gave) already give information about the person (third person and first person, respectively). It is for this reason that these independent pronouns are emphatic. In 2.2 Gomer and Hosea were in focus. Here the focus is on the people of Israel and the LORD.
The grain, the wine, and the oil: The Hebrew words for grain, wine, and oil refer to raw products. They do not refer to humanly processed products, but they come directly from the LORD, representing the wealth of the area. The word for grain includes the seed crop of both wheat and barley, before it is ground into flour. There is some debate about the exact meaning and origins of the Hebrew word for wine. It probably refers to freshly-squeezed grape juice. It may be a loan word from Hittite, which also occurred in Greek (as a loan from Hittite). The word mainly occurs in poetic passages. New International Version and New Jerusalem Bible say “new wine.” “Sweet wine” is also possible. The Hebrew word for oil refers to freshly squeezed olive oil, not yet processed for use. These raw products are not mentioned by these names in 2.5, where most of the things listed have gone through some process of preparation.
And who lavished upon her silver and gold: Lavished means “caused to be abundant.” Silver and gold are probably the result of trading the wealth that the land produced in an economically prosperous time during the reign of Jeroboam II and are therefore also considered as gifts of the LORD. Mining did not take place in Israel.
Which they used for Baal: The pronoun they refers to the people of Israel, so there is an unexpected change in the Hebrew text from speaking about a woman as a symbol of Israel, to speaking about the people of Israel directly. In some languages such an abrupt change may not be good style, and it may be better to retain the symbolic language, as in Good News Translation with the pronoun “she.” The Hebrew expression for used for Baal can also mean “made into Baal,” meaning that the silver and gold were used to make images for worshiping Baal, the Canaanite storm and fertility god (so Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Wolff). Silver and gold were used to overlay wooden statues of this Canaanite god. Good News Translation renders this clause in a very general way, saying “that she used in the worship of Baal.” If translators follow this model, it would be helpful to add a footnote to indicate that the Hebrew text uses the pronoun “they” instead of “she.”
A translation model for this verse is:
• She herself did not understand
that I was the one who gave her
the grain, the wine and the oil,
and that I gave her silver and gold in abundance,
which she made into [idols of] Baal.
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 .
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