¹tn Heb “Go again! Love!”
²tn Heb “a woman.” The probable referent is Gomer.
³tc The MT vocalizes tb^h%a& (’ahuvat) as a construct form of the Qal passive participle and takes u^r@ (rea’) as a genitive of agent: “who is loved by u^r@.” However, the versions (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate) all vocalize tb^h%a& as an absolute form of the Qal active participle, and take u^r@ as the accusative direct object: “who loves u^r@.” The English translations consistently follow the MT. The editors of BHS suggest the revocalization but with some reservation. For discussion of the vocalization, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:230.
tn Heb “a woman who is loved by a companion” (u^r@ tb^h%a& hV*a!, ’ishah ’ahuvat rea’). The substantival participle tb^h%a& (“one who is loved”) is in apposition to hV*a! (“a woman”). The genitive noun u^r@ (“companion”) functions as the agent of the preceding construct noun: “who is loved by a companion” (u^r@ tb^h%a&).
⁴tn The meaning of the noun u^r@ (rea’) is debated because it has a broad range of meanings: (1) “friend,” (2) “lover,” (3) “companion,” (4) “neighbor,” and (5) “another” (HALOT 1253-55 s.v. II u^r@; BDB 945-46 s.v. II u^r@). The Hebrew lexicons favor the nuance “lover; paramour” here (HALOT 1255 s.v. 2; BDB 946 s.v. 1). Most scholars adopt the same approach; however, a few suggest that u^r@ does not refer to another man, but to her husband (Hosea). Both approaches are reflected in English translations: “a woman who is loved by her husband” (NASB), “though she is loved by another” (NIV), “a woman who is beloved of a paramour” (RSV), “a woman beloved of her friend” (KJV), “a woman who, while befriended by a companion” (NJPS), “a woman who is committing adultery with a lover” (TEV), “an unfaithful woman who has a lover” (CEV).
⁵tn Heb “love a woman who is loved of a lover and is an adulteress.”
⁶tn Heb “like the love of the Lord.” The genitive after the construct functions as a subjective genitive.
⁷tn Heb “sons of Israel.”
⁸tn Heb “they are lovers of cakes of raisins.”
⁹tc The LXX reads “a homer of barley and a measure of wine,” a reading followed by several English translations (e.g., NRSV, NLT).
tn Heb “a homer of barley and a lethech of barley.” A homer was about 5 bushels (180 liters) and a lethech about 2.5 bushels (90 liters).
¹⁰tn Heb “and you will not be for.”
¹¹tn Heb “sons of Israel”; the same expression occurs in the following verse.
¹²tn Heb “David their king.”
sn It is not clear whether Hosea was predicting a restoration of Davidic kingship over Israel and Judah (e.g., Jer 17:25; 22:2) or referring to the ultimate Davidic king, namely, the Messiah, who will fulfill the conditions of the Davidic covenant and inaugurate/fulfill the blessings of the Davidic covenant for Israel. The Messiah is frequently pictured as the “New David” because he would fulfill the ideals of the Davidic covenant and be everything that David and his descendants were commissioned to be (e.g., Isa 9:7[6]; 16:5; Jer 23:5-6; 30:9; 33:15-16; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25).
¹³tn Heb “his goodness.”
¹⁴tn Heb “in the end of the days.”