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10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness.
I viewed your ancestors[a] like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season.
Then they came to Baal Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame—
they became as detestable as what they loved.

The Fertility Worshipers Will Become Infertile

11 Ephraim will be like a bird;
what they value[b] will fly away.
They will not bear children—
they will not enjoy pregnancy—
they will not even conceive![c]
12 Even if they raise their children,
I will take away every last one of them.[d]
Woe to them!
For I will turn away from them.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 9:10 tn Heb “fathers”; a number of more recent English versions use the more general “ancestors” here.
  2. Hosea 9:11 tn Heb “their glory” (so NASB); cf. TEV “Israel’s greatness.”
  3. Hosea 9:11 tn Heb “no childbearing, no pregnancy, no conception.” The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to the three parallel nouns functions in a privative sense, indicating deprivation (BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7).
  4. Hosea 9:12 tn Heb “I will bereave them from a man”; cf. NRSV “I will bereave them until no one is left.”