2:12a

I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers: This verse refers back to 2:5, which lists gifts from the woman’s lovers in payment for the sexual relations she had with them. Here her lovers may refer to the Baal idols that Israel worshiped in various shrines. Israel considered her vines and fig trees as wages from these Baals in exchange for her worship.

If grapes and fig trees are unknown in your language group, you may want to add pictures. You may also want to include descriptions in a footnote.

vines: This word refers to grape vines. Grapes were one of the most important crops for the people of Israel. Wine was made from the juice of this fruit. Some versions make the kind of vine explicit. For example:

grapevines (Good News Translation)
-or-
vineyards (New Living Translation (2004))

A vineyard is a farm where grape vines grow and produce grapes.

Here are some other ways to translate “vineyard”:

grape farm
-or-
field of grape vines

fig trees: Fig trees produced another very important and useful fruit for the Israelites. Figs were very nourishing and were also used as medicine (2 Kings 20:7).

In language areas where fig trees are not known, here are some other ways to translate this term:

• Use a more general term. For example:

orchards (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
fruit trees

• Use a loan word(s) from a major language in your area. For example:

igo trees (from Spanish higo)

If you use this option, people should clearly understand that the loan word refers to a kind of fruit tree.

General Comment on 2:12a

In some languages, it may be more natural to reorder the two clauses within this verse part. For example:

She said that her lovers paid her for sex by giving her grapevines and fig trees. But I am going to destroy those vines and fig trees.

In some languages, it may also be necessary to use a direct quote instead of an indirect quote. For example:

I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ (English Standard Version)

2:12b

So I will make them into a thicket: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as thicket refers to a tangled area of plants and trees.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase

I shall leave them to grow wild (Revised English Bible)
-or-
I will let them grow into tangled thickets (New Living Translation (2004))

Use an expression in your language that describes an area that once was cultivated, but later was allowed to grow wild.

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