The Hebrew of the first line of this verse has been difficult to understand, and several attempts have been made to emend the text. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project strangely does not deal with this problem. New International Version tries to translate it literally as “The rebels are deep in slaughter,” which means the people who engage in pagan worship have rebelled against God, and they slaughter so many animals in pagan sacrifice that they are deep into it—perhaps deep in blood or deep in sacrificed bodies. English Standard Version has a similar rendering, and in a study note English Standard Version connects this line with child sacrifice. A verb derived from the root of the Hebrew word translated as “slaughter” by New International Version and English Standard Version is used in Isa 57.5 and Ezek 16.21; 23.39. In these passages the link with child sacrifice is explicit. Here in Hosea the link is clearly not explicit if present at all. Many versions render an emended Hebrew text here; for example, Jerusalem Bible has “They are entrenched in their deceitfulness,” and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible says “the infidels have dug a deep pit.” Many other translations follow the emended Hebrew text of Revised Standard Version: And they have made deep the pit of Shittim. According to some scholars that accept this text, a third hunting metaphor is used here, that of digging a pit into which an animal would fall. In this way there is another connection with the animals mentioned in 4.3. The pit was concealed by a thin cover through which an animal would fall and be trapped. The word Shittim is an emendation of the form of Hebrew word setim (“rebels”). The place is the city of Shittim, which means “acacia.” Good News Translation regularly translates Shittim as “Acacia,” since the Hebrew name resembles an uncouth expression in English. When the Israelites first arrived on the east side of the Jordan River, it was there that they sinned by worshiping the Baal of Peor (Num 25.1-3). The idea of digging a pit would have a double meaning by referring as well to the kind of pit that was frequently dug near an altar for depositing the bones of slaughtered animals. However, recent studies in the Hebrew dialect of northern Israel indicate that the word translated as “slaughter” by New International Version refers instead to sexual corruption. So another possible literal translation of the Hebrew text of this line is “And the rebels are deep in lewdness [or, fornication/sexual corruption].” This rendering fits the theme of Hosea, comparing Israel’s sins to that of a wife committing adultery. It certainly fits this context. In 5.3-4 this comparison is repeated. De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling moves in the direction of alluding to adultery by translating “you have dug a deep pit of unfaithfulness.” The pronoun they refers to the Israelite leaders. These leaders are referred to in the second person in the previous verse, so some languages may prefer to use second person here also (so De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling).

But I will chastise all of them is literally “And I will be a chastisement for all of them.” God will punish all the Israelites for their idolatry. But renders well the Hebrew waw conjunction here, which introduces a contrast to the previous lines. All of them refer to all the Israelites. Since God is addressing them, Good News Translation says “all of you” for clarity in English.

A translation model for this verse is:

• and digging a deep pit of fornication.
But I will punish you all.

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 .