In this section God is clearly the speaker. Good News Translation makes this clear by beginning with the quote frame “The LORD says.” Some modern translations add such a statement, but most do not, since it is not in the Hebrew text. Translators will have to decide if such an introduction of the speaker is needed.

This verse begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”), which Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation omit. Some translations render it “But” (New International Version, NET Bible, English Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling) or “Yet” (New Revised Standard Version), since it introduces a contrast with the previous section that describes worship of other gods.

I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt: These words are exactly the same as those occurring in the first two lines of 12.9 (see comments there). It will be good to translate them here in the same way. These are the important words that establish the relationship between God and the people of Israel.

You know no God but me expresses the result of their rescue from Egypt. This may seem to be a strange statement, since the people had been worshiping other gods, false gods. But this statement shows that there is an eternal bond, a connection, between Israel and Yahweh that no one can change. The verb know here has connotations of “acknowledge” or “relate to” (see comments on 2.20). NET Bible expresses its sense well by saying “Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me.” New International Version is similar with “You shall acknowledge no God but me.” The exclusive relational aspect is emphasized in Bijbel in Gewone Taal: “I am the only God you are allowed to serve.” The Hebrew verb for know is also used to signify sexual relations between a man and his wife, as when “Adam knew Eve his wife” (Gen 4.1), so it links this passage with the personal story of Hosea and Gomer.

And besides me there is no savior is literally “and a deliverer there is none except me.” Good News Translation provides a good equivalent: “I alone am your savior.”

A translation model for this verse is:

• But I am the LORD your God,
ever since the time in Egypt.
You must know no other God, except me,
there is no other god who can save you.

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .