HOS 2:6 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=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Therefore, I’ll fence her paths in with thorns.
⇔ I’ll build a wall up against her so she can’t find her way.

Key: khaki:verbs, red:negative.
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 Καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσω, ὅτι τέκνα πορνείας ἐστίν.
(Kai ta tekna autaʸs ou maʸ eleaʸsō, hoti tekna porneias estin. )

BrTr And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication.

ULT Therefore, I will hedge up her way with thorns.
⇔ I will build up a wall against her
⇔ so she cannot find her paths.

UST So I will block Israel’s road with thornbushes,
⇔ and I will build a wall around her,
⇔ so that she cannot find the path to take.

BSB Therefore, behold,
⇔ I will hedge up her path[fn] with thorns;
⇔ I will enclose her with a wall,
⇔ so she cannot find her way.

OEB That is why I am going to hedge up her ways with thorns,
⇔ and build a wall about her,
⇔ so that she cannot find her paths.

WEBBE Therefore behold,[fn] I will hedge up your way with thorns,
⇔ and I will build a wall against her,
⇔ that she can’t find her way.

2:6 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.

WMBB (Same as above including footnotes)

MSG ^(2-13)“Haul your mother into court. Accuse her!
  She’s no longer my wife.
  I’m no longer her husband.
Tell her to quit dressing like a whore,
  displaying her breasts for sale.
If she refuses, I’ll rip off her clothes
  and expose her, naked as a newborn.
I’ll turn her skin into dried-out leather,
  her body into a badlands landscape,
  a rack of bones in the desert.
I’ll have nothing to do with her children,
  born one and all in a whorehouse.
Face it: Your mother’s been a whore,
  bringing bastard children into the world.
She said, ‘I’m off to see my lovers!
  They’ll wine and dine me,
Dress and caress me,
  perfume and adorn me!’
But I’ll fix her: I’ll dump her in a field of thistles,
  then lose her in a dead-end alley.
She’ll go on the hunt for her lovers
  but not bring down a single one.
She’ll look high and low
  but won’t find a one. Then she’ll say,
‘I’m going back to my husband, the one I started out with.
  That was a better life by far than this one.’
She didn’t know that it was I all along
  who wined and dined and adorned her,
That I was the one who dressed her up
  in the big-city fashions and jewelry
  that she wasted on wild Baal-orgies.
I’m about to bring her up short: No more wining and dining!
  Silk lingerie and gowns are a thing of the past.
I’ll expose her genitals to the public.
  All her fly-by-night lovers will be helpless to help her.
Party time is over. I’m calling a halt to the whole business,
  her wild weekends and unholy holidays.
I’ll wreck her sumptuous gardens and ornamental fountains,
  of which she bragged, ‘Whoring paid for all this!’
They will soon be dumping grounds for garbage,
  feeding grounds for stray dogs and cats.
I’ll make her pay for her indulgence in promiscuous religion—
  all that sensuous Baal worship
And all the promiscuous sex that went with it,
  stalking her lovers, dressed to kill,
And not a thought for me.”
  God’s Message!

NET Therefore, I will soon fence her in with thorns;
⇔ I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.

LSV Therefore, behold, I am hedging up your way with thorns,
And I have made a wall for her,
And her paths she does not find.

FBV That is why I am going to block her path with thorn bushes, and build a stone wall to stop her so she won't find her way.

T4T So it will be as though [MET] I am blocking their road with thornbushes,
⇔ and putting put a wall around them
⇔ so that they do not know which way to go.

LEB   • Therefore, Look! I am going to hedge her path[fn] with thorns ,[fn]
   • and I will build a stone wall, a stone wall against her,
  • and she will not find her paths.

2:? Hebrew “your path”

2:? Literally “with the thorns”

BBE For this cause I will put thorns in her road, building up a wall round her so that she may not go on her way.

Moff ⇔ Now then I will block up her path
⇔ with a thorn-hedge,
⇔ and bar the road against her,
⇔ till she cannot find her way;

JPS (2-8) Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will make a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths.

ASV Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths.

DRA Wherefore behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will stop it up with a wall, and she shall not find her paths.

YLT Therefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find.

Drby Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns; and I will fence [her] in with a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

RV Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will make a fence against her, that she shall not find her paths.
(Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy/your way with thorns, and I will make a fence against her, that she shall not find her paths. )

SLT Therefore, behold me hedging in thy way with thorns, and I walled a wall and she shall not find her beaten paths.

Wbstr Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

KJB-1769 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.[fn]
(¶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy/your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. )

2.6 make…: Heb. wall a wall

KJB-1611 ¶ Therefore behold, I will hedge vp thy way with thornes, and [fn]make a wall, that she shall not find her pathes.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

2:6 Heb. wall a wall.

Bshps Therefore beholde, I wyll stop thy way with thornes, and make a hedge, that she shall not finde her pathes.
(Therefore behold, I will stop thy/your way with thorns, and make a hedge, that she shall not find her paths.)

Gnva Therefore beholde, I will stoope thy way with thornes, and make an hedge, that shee shall not finde her pathes.
(Therefore behold, I will stop thy/your way with thorns, and make an hedge, that she shall not find her paths. )

Cvdl But I will hedge hir waye with thornes, and stoppe it, that she shal not fynde hir fotestoppes:
(But I will hedge her way with thorns, and stop it, that she shall not find her footsteps:)

Wycl For this thing lo! Y schal hegge thi weie with thornes, and Y schal hegge it with a wal, and sche schal not fynde hir pathis.
(For this thing lo! I shall hegge thy/your way with thorns, and I shall hegge it with a wall, and she shall not find her paths.)

Luth und mich ihrer Kinder nicht erbarme; denn sie sind Hurenkinder,
(and me of_their/her children not have_mercy; because/than they/she/them are whore_children,)

ClVg Propter hoc ecce ego sepiam viam tuam spinis, et sepiam eam maceria, et semitas suas non inveniet.
(Because this behold I sepiam way/road your(sg) thorns, and sepiam her maceria, and path their_own not/no will_find. )

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 2:2–13: The LORD promised to punish the people of Israel

In this section, the LORD described the crisis that resulted from Israel being unfaithful to him by following other gods. He warned Israel about the punishment that he would inflict on them if they continued their unfaithfulness. There is a sharp contrast between the negative tone in this section and the positive tone in the previous one.

The first words of this section seem to be a command by Hosea to his children. He commanded them to rebuke their mother (2:2a). However, the words “declares the LORD” in 2:13c indicate that the LORD is the speaker throughout this section. The reason for this double reference is that this section has both literal and figurative meanings. Literally, it applies to the relationship between Hosea, his wife Gomer, and their children. Figuratively, it expresses the relationship between the LORD and Israel. In a complex metaphor, the nation of Israel is compared to the LORD’s wife. At the same time, the entire nation of Israel is compared to a mother, and the individual Israelites that made up the nation are compared to her children.Andersen and Freedman (pages 219–220) and Wood (page 175).

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The LORD’s future punishment of Israel

Israel is the Lord’s unfaithful wife (GW)

Unfaithful Gomer—Unfaithful Israel (GNT)

Paragraph 2:6–7

In this paragraph, the husband (symbolizing the LORD) continued talking to his children about the unfaithfulness of their mother (symbolizing the nation of Israel). He told them that he will discipline her so that she will change her behavior and return to him.

2:6

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^6aTherefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns;

^6b I will enclose her with a wall so she cannot find her way.

In 2:6b, the parallelism implies that thornbushes will also be used to wall in the woman. The purpose of blocking her path or making a wall around her with thornbushes is to keep her from going to her lovers.

2:6a–b

(combined/reordered)

¶ “That is why I will soon make a wall/fence of thornbushes to keep her from going to her lovers.
¶ “So this is what I will do now: I will be like a person who makes a thorn fence/wall around his animal. Then she will not be able to do what she decided.

I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall: The MT has “your path.” The LXX and Syriac both have “her path.” All English versions consulted have “her.” It is recommended that you follow the LXX. The pronoun “her” fits the parallelism. The speaker is addressing the children. He is not talking to the wife directly. It was a common practice to make a fence, hedge, or wall out of thornbushes either to protect a vineyard or to keep an animal from wandering off. Here the two lines are used figuratively. The husband will restrain his wife from leaving home to look for other lovers just like a person fences in an animal to keep it from wandering away.

If the figurative meaning is not clear, it may be necessary to change the metaphors to similes and to make some of the points of comparison explicit. For example:

It is as if I will hedge up her path with thorns. I will restrain her like a person fences in an animal.

I will keep her from leaving home. She will be like an animal whose owner plants thornbushes across its path or builds a wall around it so that it cannot wander away.

General Comment on 2:6a–b

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

I, the Lord will build a fence of thorns to block her path. (CEV)

2:6a

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns;

¶ “Therefore/So I will now place thornbushes across her path.
¶ “That is the reason I will restrain her like a person blocks an animal’s path with thornbushes.

Therefore: In Hebrew, this word introduces the husband’s response that results from the immoral behavior of his wife.

Here are some other ways to introduce this result:

That is why (REB)

So (GNT)

Some versions leave the connection implied. Use a natural way in your language to introduce this result.

behold: In Hebrew, the next word in this sentence is hinneh. Some versions translate this word as behold, as the BSB does. Some other versions leave this word implied. The usual function of hinneh is to direct the attention of the reader or listener to what follows. Here, the LORD described what will happen immediately or in the near future.The Hebrew word expresses “the immediacy, the here-and-now-ness, of the situation” (Lambdin, page 168). For example:

Therefore, I will soon fence her in with thorns (NET)

Use a natural way in your language to produce this sense of immediate action.

2:6b

I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.

I will make a wall so that she cannot find the way to her lovers.
I will treat her like a person who fences/walls in his animal so that it cannot wander away.

Parallel HOS 2:6