Good News Translation makes explicit who is speaking here by beginning with “The LORD says.” This section continues “the word of the LORD,” which started in 4.1. If the translator decides not to make the speaker explicit here, the use of quotation marks depends on the way this was handled in 4.1.

The Hebrew word rendered Yet introduces a transition to a new section. In this context it marks a contrast with the previous section. In other contexts the same word can be used to provide added information that needs to be understood. Here it is best rendered as a contrastive conjunction, such as “However” or “But” (New International Version).

Let no one contend is a command, which is literally “let not a man contend.” The Hebrew word for “man” is used here to refer to anyone, whether male or female. The Hebrew verb for contend means “to bring a lawsuit” or “to bring a case before a judge” (see 2.2, where it is rendered “plead”). This verb comes from the same Hebrew root as the noun translated “controversy” in 4.1.

And let none accuse (literally “and let not a man accuse”) is parallel to the previous line. The Hebrew verb for accuse has a broad range of meaning covered by “argue” and “rebuke.” In this context it serves to emphasize the narrower meaning of bringing a case to trial. The Hebrew does not state who would be accused, but Good News Translation makes it explicit by rendering the first two lines of this verse as “Let no one accuse the people or reprimand them.” People should not accuse one another, neither should they interfere in the disputes. The only object of contention is the priesthood, as is pointed out in the next line.

For with you is my contention, O priest: There is a textual problem here in the Hebrew. Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and others assume that a scribal error occurred with one consonant being written twice. And by using other vowels than those traditionally added to the consonants, they read the Hebrew as translated. GNT’s footnote shows the literal form of the Hebrew, which is “your people are like those who bring a lawsuit against a priest.” The translator may wish to follow the reading in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. However, we recommend following the interpretation preferred by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, which follows the Hebrew text, saying “your people [are] like contenders against the priest.” The Hebrew pronoun for “your” is masculine singular, referring to a priest as a collective singular for the entire priesthood. To disobey a priest who issued a decision was a crime that called for the death penalty (Deut 17.12), and perhaps this is why it is stated that the people only resemble those who contend, rather than that they actually contend against a priest. But there is a problem with this interpretation. Why would Hosea rebuke the people for contending against the priests, given his severe criticism of the priests elsewhere? Therefore there is an alternative interpretation of this same Hebrew text: the thought seems to be that Yahweh has complained about the people (4.1-3), but now the people in turn have every right to complain about the priests who have not disciplined the people, and who thus have left them open to Yahweh’s punishment. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides a helpful model for this line, saying “Your people have every basis on which to complain about the priests!”

In the Old Testament the office of the priesthood was limited to the tribe of Levi, and more specifically to one family of that tribe, the family of Aaron. The priests served as intermediaries between God and the people of Israel. Regulations with regard to the qualifications of priests are given in Lev 21.16-23. They offered sacrifices and conducted other sacred ceremonies. The word priest is often rendered “sacrifice-making person” or “ceremony person.”

A translation model for this verse is:

• However, don’t bring a case against the people,
don’t raise a complaint against one another!
Your people have a case against you, the priests!

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 .