She shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them is semantically parallel with and she shall seek them, but shall not find them. These four lines are two ways of saying the same thing, and some languages may prefer combining them into one statement; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) says “Then she will no longer be able to find her lovers, no matter how much she may seek them.” However, if the translation aims at maintaining the poetic nature of the passage, appropriate literary devices have to be used in the receptor language. The allegorical nature of the text may require a more poetic or elevated style of language. The grammatical structure of lines one and two is identical to the grammatical structure of lines three and four. This repetitive element strengthens the point that the author wants to make. Translators should try to maintain this emphasis.

In this allegory Israel’s lovers are symbols of pagan gods (see 2.5). The verbs pursue and seek describe Israel’s eager worship of these gods. Pursue shows an eager chase and indicates again that Israel is like a woman taking the initiative. Similarly, the verb seek shows that the lovers definitely did not initiate this adulterous relationship. The Hebrew verb for seek appears in 5.6 and 5.15 as a technical term for visiting a shrine. The phrases not overtake them and not find them are figures indicating that Israel will fail to receive the prosperity she is seeking by worshiping the pagan gods. All this is the result of the thorny hedge and the wall of 2.6 that prevent Israel from going wherever she wishes.

Then she shall say: This quote frame introduces her thoughts; she does not necessarily say the following words aloud (compare the comments on “For she said” in 2.5).

I will go and return to my first husband: This expression implies repentance, although it may not be sincere. Go and return uses two verbs for one action. Good News Translation says “I am going back,” and New International Version has “I will go back.” My first husband is Yahweh. It was not legal for her to be remarried to her first husband if a second marriage had taken place (Deut 24.1-4). However, if no second marriage actually took place, it seems she could return to husband even if she had acted as a prostitute. Apart from that, it is not clear if Deuteronomy was known at the time this text was written. The context does not suggest that she was married for a second time. No divorce has been mentioned. The Hebrew word for first can also refer to the “original” husband.

For it was better with me then than now: Israel recognizes that she was “better off” (Good News Translation) when she was true to Yahweh. It was better refers to general well-being in life. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders this line as “With him it was better for me!”

A translation model for this verse is:

• She will chase after her lovers, but not catch up with them.
She will look for them, but not find them.
She will say to herself, “I will go back to my own husband,
for then I was better off than I am now.”

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 .