In this section the discourse continues moving back and forth rapidly between the figures in the allegory (the prostitute, lovers, and payment) and the reality of Israel’s festivals, vineyards, and fig trees. The translator should make sure that the translation accommodates the multiple layers of interpretation that the text offers, so that the reader can make these switches and is not restricted to one single interpretation. Depending on the receptor language, specific stylistic or literary devices may have to be employed to ensure that the allegorical nature here can be recognized.

And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees …: This verse describes the destruction of vegetation, which Yahweh hinted at earlier (2.3, 9). The Hebrew verb for lay waste is a general term for willful destruction, as in war. It has connotations of desolation. It only occurs here in Hosea. Translators should use a verb that fits the complete destruction of a vineyard or a grove of fig trees, such as “ruin” (New International Version) or “ravage” (Revised English Bible). The repeated and emphatic use of the possessive pronoun her continues in this verse.

Vines are the plants on which grapes grow for making wine. Farmers prune them and tend them carefully. Fig trees bear brown, sweet fruit, which is round but tapering to the stem. If fig trees are unknown in the receptor language, a more generic expression is acceptable, such as “fruit trees.” Both grapes and figs were harvested at the same time. They were important ingredients for one of the annual festivals.

Of which she said: As in 2.5 and 2.7, this quote frame probably introduces what the woman thought, not what she actually said. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh makes this clear by rendering this line and the next two as “Which she thinks are a fee she received from her lovers.”

These are my hire, which my lovers have given me are the thoughts of the woman. Hire translates a Hebrew word used for payment made to a prostitute. New Revised Standard Version says “pay,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “fee,” which is an even clearer hint at her payment as a prostitute. In any case, a term should be used that indicates that the payment is in exchange for services rendered. My lovers refers to the pagan gods (see 2.5). Israel thought that her grapevines and fig trees were gifts from those gods in response to her pagan sacrifices. In the allegory, Israel is the prostitute who thought these things were her payment (see 2.8). Like New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Good News Translation uses an indirect quote here by rendering these two lines and the previous one as “which she said her lovers gave her for serving them.” Other languages may prefer doing this if direct speech would give the impression that the first person singular pronouns my and me refer to Yahweh instead of the woman.

I will make them a forest: God will cause the vineyards and fig trees to be overgrown with weeds, bushes, and even trees. They will become like a jungle infested with wild animals. The pronoun them refers to the vineyards and fig trees, which Good News Translation makes clear by saying “her vineyards and orchards.” Good News Translation translates forest as “wilderness,” which should not be understood as a desert. Bible en français courant is better with “bushy area,” and so is New Jerusalem Bible with “jungle.”

And the beasts of the field shall devour them: The beasts of the field refers to “the wild animals” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation). They will eat whatever remains of the grapes and figs. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders this line as “what still grows will be eaten up by wild animals.”

A translation model for this verse is:

• I will ruin her vines and fig trees
of which she thought
these were her fees
received from her lovers.
I will turn the vines and fig trees into a jungle,
and wild animals will eat them.

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 .