HOS 14:2 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Prepare what you’re going to say and return to Yahweh.
⇔ Tell him, “Take away all our disobedience and accept what is good,
⇔ so that we can offer praise from our lips.

Key: khaki:verbs, green:YHWH.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX Ἐπιστράφηθι Ἰσραὴλ πρὸς Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου, διότι ἠσθένησαν ἐν ταῖς ἀδικίαις σου.
(Epistrafaʸthi Israaʸl pros Kurion ton Theon sou, dioti aʸsthenaʸsan en tais adikiais sou. )

BrTr Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God; for the people have fallen through thine iniquities.

ULT Take with you words and return to Yahweh.
⇔ Say to him, “Take away all iniquity
⇔ and accept what is good,
⇔ so that we may offer the fruit of our lips. [fn]

The phrase so that we may offer to you the fruit of our lips represents the interpretation of some ancient versions. The Hebrew text has so that we may offer bulls, our lips . Some modern versions interpret this to mean, so that we may offer to you bulls, which we have promised to do .

UST So now, return to Yahweh, and think about how you will confess your sins to him.
⇔ Say this to him:
⇔ “Take away all our sins,
⇔ and accept us; please be kind to us.
⇔ Please accept us back, so that we may praise you in our words and song.

BSB Bring your confessions
⇔ and return to the LORD.
⇔ Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity
⇔ and receive [us] graciously,
⇔ that we may present
⇔ the fruit of our lips.[fn]

14:2 LXX and Syriac; Hebrew that we may present our lips as sacrificial bulls

OEB Take words of repentance with you,
⇔ and return to the Lord your God.
⇔ Say to him:
⇔ Wholly pardon our iniquity,
⇔ accept that which is good,
⇔ instead of sacrificing bulls,
⇔ we offer our praise.

WEBBE Take words with you, and return to the LORD.
⇔ Tell him, “Forgive all our sins,
⇔ and accept that which is good;
⇔ so we offer bulls as we vowed of our lips.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Return to the Lord and repent!
⇔ Say to him: “Completely forgive our iniquity;
⇔ accept our penitential prayer,
⇔ that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls.

LSV Take words with you, and turn to YHWH,
Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and give good,
And we render the fruit of our lips.

FBV Take words like these with you and come back to the Lord, saying to him, “Please take away all our guilt, accept what is good, and we will repay you with praise from our lips.

T4T So now return to Yahweh
⇔ and say [MTY] this to him:
⇔ “Forgive us for all the sins that we have committed,
⇔ and kindly accept ◄us/our sacrifices►
⇔ in order that we may thank/praise you [IDM].

LEB   • Take words with you, and return to Yahweh.
• Say to him,
  • “Take away all guilt;
• accept good, and we will offer
  • the fruit[fn] of our lips.

14:1 Hebrew uncertain

BBE Take with you words, and come back to the Lord; say to him, Let there be forgiveness for all wrongdoing, so that we may take what is good, and give in payment the fruit of our lips.

Moff Take words, as you come back to the Eternal,
⇔ and say to him:
⇔ “All our iniquities forgive,
⇔ and grant us now thy favour;
⇔ let us bring thee flocks of the fold–

JPS (14-3) Take with you words, and return unto the LORD; say unto Him: 'Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips.

ASV Take with you words, and return unto Jehovah: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.

DRA Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity.

YLT Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah, Say ye unto Him: 'Take away all iniquity, and give good, And we do render the fruit of our lips.

Drby Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive [us] graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips.

RV Take with you words, and return unto the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.

SLT Take with you words and turn back to Jehovah: say to him, Thou wilt take away all iniquity, and take good: and we will requite the fruits of our lips.

Wbstr Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say to him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

KJB-1769 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.[fn]

14.2 receive…: or, give good

KJB-1611 [fn]Take with you words, and turne to the LORD, say vnto him, Take away all iniquitie, and receiue vs graciously: so will wee render the calues of our lips.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

14:2 Or, giue good.

Bshps Take these wordes with you, whe ye turne to the Lorde, and say vnto him, O forgeue vs all our sinnes, receaue vs graciously, and then wyll we offer the Calues of our lippes vnto thee.
(Take these words with you, when ye/you_all turn to the Lord, and say unto him, Oh forgive us all our sins, receive us graciously, and then will we offer the Calves of our lips unto thee/you.)

Gnva O Israel, returne vnto the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen by thine iniquitie.
(Oh Israel, return unto the Lord thy/your God: for thou/you hast fallen by thine/your iniquity. )

Cvdl Take these wordes with you, when ye turne to the LORDE, & saye vnto him: O forgeue vs all oure synnes, receaue vs graciously, & then wil we offre ye bullockes of oure lyppes vnto the.
(Take these words with you, when ye/you_all turn to the LORD, and say unto him: Oh forgive us all our sins, receive us graciously, and then will we offer ye/you_all bullocks of our lips unto them.)

Wycl Israel, be thou conuertid to thi Lord God, for thou fellist doun in thi wickidnesse.
(Israel, be thou/you converted to thy/your Lord God, for thou/you fellest/fell down in thy/your wickedness.)

Luth Bekehre dich, Israel, zu dem HErr’s, deinem GOtt; denn du bist gefallen um deiner Missetat willen.
(Convert you/yourself, Israel, to/for to_him LORD’s, your God; because/than you(sg) are fallen around/by/for your(s) misdeed/iniquity will.)

ClVg [Convertere, Israël, ad Dominum Deum tuum, quoniam corruisti in iniquitate tua.
([Convert, Israel, to the_Master God your(sg), since/because you_have_fallen in/into/on iniquity your. )

SOTN SIL Open Translation Notes:

Section 14:1–3: Hosea pleads with his fellow Israelites to return to the LORD

Hosea is the speaker in this section. He urges the people of Israel to acknowledge their sin and their need for the LORD. He gives them an example of a prayer that will express their repentance. Here are some other examples of section headings:

Hosea’s Plea to Israel (GNT)

Turn back to the Lord (CEV)

14:2

In this verse, Hosea explains how the people should return to the LORD. He offers a model prayer. It shows that a true return requires humility and sincere words.

14:2a

Bring your confessions and return to the LORD.

Take an offering of words with you^(plur) and return to Yahweh,
Return to Yahweh, saying these words:

Bring your confessions and return to the LORD: According to OT teaching, people took an offering to God when they came to him. See Exodus 23:15; 34:20.Keil (page 106). The usual offering was an animal. Here, however, Hosea told them to take an offering of their words instead of an animal.

The words they should offer are the words that Hosea tells them to say to the LORD in the rest of this verse and in 14:3.Dearman (pages 337–338), Garrett (pages 270–271), Keil (pages 106–107), Stuart (page 213), Carroll (page 301), Hubbard (page 227), McComiskey (page 229), Macintosh (page 563) and Wood (page 223).

Some versions make clearer what words Hosea refers to here. For example:

Come back to the Lord and say these words to him: “Take away all our sin and kindly receive us…. (NCV)

Come back to the Lord with your words of confession (REB)

14:2b

Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously,

saying, “Forgive us all our^(excl) sins and accept what is good.
“Take away every sin and accept our sincere words of confession.

The NJPS has been used as the source line for 2b–c because it follows the recommended interpretations.

(NJPS) Say to him: “Forgive all guilt and accept what is good: In this clause Hosea tells the people how to begin their prayer.

Forgive all guilt: The Hebrew syntax of this request, “every you will forgive iniquity,” is unusual. The word “every” goes with “iniquity” but it is interrupted by the verb “forgive.” The two main explanations for this odd syntax are: 1) This is a broken construct chain. This suggestion is probably correct, as similar examples occur elsewhere. For example, Hosea 6:9 has: “[the] way they murder to Shechem” in which the construct chain “the way to Shechem” is interrupted by the verb “they murder.” See Andersen and Freedman (page 645), McComiskey (page 229) and Davies (page 302). 2) The word “every” is meant as the adverb “wholly” as in “wholly forgive.” See the NET footnote on “Completely” for 14:2. This option has less support. Davies (page 302) and Macintosh (page 561) discuss this option but it is not clear that either one favors it. The word Forgive means to “take away guilt.”BDB (#4984) 3c. For information on the word guilt see the note in Hosea 13:12 on “guilt…sins.”

Here are some other ways to translate this clause part:

Take away all iniquity (ESV)

Forgive all our sins (NLT)

And accept what is good: There is a textual issue regarding the Hebrew word that the NJPS translates as what is good.

The Hebrew word is: good.BDB (#2895) III 2. For example:
accept what is good (ESV) (CEV,The CEV makes explicit that their praise is what is good. The CEV has “Accept our good sacrifices of praise….” ESV, NAB, NJPS, NRSV)
The Hebrew word is: “word/speech.”HALOT (electronic edition, page 372) IV. The LXX has “speak to him,” a verbal form of this word. Some scholars question if “word/speech” is a true sense of the Hebrew word. ṭôb. Macintosh (page 562) says that even though the word “good” can imply words, it is not certain that the Hebrew word itself can actually mean “word, speech.” The cited versions translate “word/speech” as “prayer.” For example:
accept our prayer (GNT) (GNT, NET)
The Hebrew word is: “graciously.”This option has a different subject and object than options (1) and (2). Instead of the people giving an offering to God, God offers graciousness to the people. The justification for this option is unknown. According to Davies (page 302) the root that underlies the option is TWOT (#793b) ṭûb “goodness, graciousness.” This option requires a different form of the Hebrew word in the MT. For example:
and graciously receive us (NLT) (BSB, GW, KJV, NASB, NCV, NIV, NLT)

It is recommended that you follow option (1). It has the best support from lexicons. However, in this context, the phrase what is good refers to words of confession and repentance in prayer. For that reason option (2) is also acceptable.

14:2c

that we may present the fruit of our lips.

May we^(excl) offer as bulls these good words from our lips.
Then we will offer to you^(sing) praise from our lips instead of bulls.

(NJPS) instead of bulls we will pay [the offering of] our lips: The Hebrew clause is more literally “so that (or: and) we may pay bulls our lips.” There is a textual issue concerning the Hebrew word for bulls:

The Hebrew MT has bulls.The Hebrew word for “bulls” here is generally understood to be an adverbial accusative, “so that we may pay/offer our lips as bulls.” See Keil (pages 106–107), Carroll (page 301), McComiskey (page 229) and Macintosh (page 563). For example:
Accept our good sacrifices of praise instead of bulls. (CEV) (CEV, ESV, KJV, NAB, NET, NJB, NJPS)The ESV and the NAB are listed here because they translate the Hebrew word as “bulls.” However, in both these versions the people pay their vows by means of offering bulls. It is not recommended that you follow the ESV or the NAB translations of this clause. These translations do not express the logic flow of the verse up to this point. See also Hosea 6:6 and Macintosh (page 563).
The LXX has “fruit.”Two common ways to explain the LXX translation are: (1) The original Hebrew word was pĕrî “fruit” rather than p̄ārîm “bulls” or (2) the word final “m” in p̄ārîm is an “enclitic m” that marks case or emphasis and is not a plural suffix. See Andersen and Freedman (page 645), Garrett (pages 270–271), Dearman (pages 337–338) and Hubbard (page 227). For example:
accept that which is good and we will offer the fruit of our lips (NRSV) (BSB, NABRE, NASB, NIV, NRSV)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) along with the majority of versions. It is similar to the first part of the verse in which Hosea urges the people to take their words of repentance to the LORD.

There are two acceptable ways to understand the connection of this clause to the preceding one:

This clause explains the phrase “what is good” in the preceding clauseThe clause initial Hebrew connector, waw, means “and/namely” and indicates apposition here. The offering of praise from our lips is what is good. For example:
Accept what is good, namely the praise of our lips as equal to an offering of bulls.
This clause gives the result of what is said in the preceding clause.The clause initial Hebrew connector, waw, means “so that” and introduces a result here. God’s acceptance of our prayer of repentance allows us to offer praise as a result. For example:
Accept our penitential prayer, that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. (NET)

we will pay [the offering of] our lips: Here the Hebrew word for pay means to make a payment to fulfill a vow.BDB (#7999) 4. “make good, i.e. pay, vows.” See also Keil (pages 106–107) and Dearman (pages 337–338). The words the offering of are not in the Hebrew text but they are implied by the reference to bulls.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause part:

we may offer you the sacrifice of praise (NLT96)

we will dedicate to you our lips. (NJB)

Parallel HOS 14:2

Section 14:1–3: Hosea pleads with his fellow Israelites to return to the LORD

14:2

14:2a

14:2b

14:2c