SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 13:1–16: The LORD’s anger against Israel

In this section, the LORD gives reasons for his anger against Israel. It was necessary to judge them because they continued to rebel against him.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Final Judgment on Israel (GNT)

The Lord’s Relentless Judgment on Israel (ESV)

Ephraim’s Idolatry (NASB)

Paragraph 13:12–16

In this paragraph, the LORD expresses his anger against Israel and describes his coming judgment. He compares Israel’s situation to a painful childbirth and to a child who resists being born (13:13). He describes his coming judgment figuratively as a taunt to the grave (Sheol) and death to come and destroy (13:14) and as a desert wind that dries up springs and fountains (13:15). He also describes it nonfiguratively by citing horrible acts of war (13:16).

13:12a–b

(combined/reordered)

¶ Israel, your^(sing/plur) terrible sins are written down and stored away. (CEV)

Notice the parallel lines that are similar in meaning:

^12aThe iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

^12b his sin is stored up.

These lines indicate that the LORD remembers the sins of the people of Israel. It is as if he has written a list of them on a document and stored it in a safe place. At a future time, he will punish the people for those sins. Some versions make explicit that the purpose of the storing is for future punishment. For example:

The sins of Israel are on record, stored away, waiting for punishment. (NCV)

iniquity…sin: The meanings of these words are similar. The Hebrew word for iniquity may refer to wickedness or evil deeds, as in 12:8c or 12:11a. It may also refer to the “guilt” that is caused by that wickedness.HALOT (electronic edition, page 800) mentions “guilt caused by sin (and the consequences thereof).” Carroll (pages 298–299) says that “the term ‘iniquity’ can refer to a transgression, the guilt due for it, or the punishment it incurs.” Here the Hebrew word for sin means to miss the way, to incur guilt.TWOT (#638).

bound up…stored up: The meanings of these words are similar. The first word means to wrap something.HALOT (electronic edition, page 1058) The second word means to hide or preserve something.HALOT (electronic edition, page 1049). Here the words describe a record of Ephraim’s sin as if written on a parchment that is stored and perhaps sealed to preserve it.Macintosh (page 542), McComiskey (page 223), and Carroll (pages 298–299).

General Comment on 13:12a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine these parallel statements into one line. For example:

Israel, your terrible sins are written down and stored away. (CEV)

13:12a

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

¶ “The record of Ephraim’s evil deeds is stored away.
¶ “I will not forget the sins of the people of Ephraim.

13:12b

his sin is stored up.

They are written on a list.
It is as if I have written a list of those sins in a book.

uW Translation Notes:

General Information:

Yahweh is speaking.

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

(Occurrence 0) Ephraim’s iniquity has been stored up; his guilt has been stored up

(Some words not found in UHB: bound_up iniquity_of Efrayim kept_in_store sin_of,his )

These two phrases are similar and mean basically the same thing.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

(Occurrence 0) has been stored up

(Some words not found in UHB: bound_up iniquity_of Efrayim kept_in_store sin_of,his )

The northern kingdom’s iniquity and guilt are spoken of as if they were objects that could be kept for a purpose.

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.

OET interlinear HOS 13:12

Hebrew word order