Translators must decide whether to retain all the figurative language in this verse, as in Revised Standard Version, or to render all or some of it nonfiguratively, as in Good News Translation. If the figures are retained, the readers in many languages will understand that the people of Israel committed indecent sexual acts publicly, at the threshing floors, as part of their idolatrous worship of Baal. Many scholars feel that this is possible, although some are not certain. Translators should feel free to render the significance of the prophet’s words rather than their form, if that is preferred.
Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples: These are not two parallel lines in the Hebrew text, which is literally “Do not rejoice, Israel, unto exultation like the nations” (see Revised Standard Version footnote). King James Version follows the Hebrew with “Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people,” and so does Good News Translation with “People of Israel, stop celebrating your festivals like pagans.” NET Bible is similar: “O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations.” Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint, which emends the Hebrew (so also New International Version, English Standard Version, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). This reading produces better parallelism. It also makes good sense. A possible translation of this emendation in modern English is “Stop rejoicing, people of Israel. Stop celebrating your festivals like pagans.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Hebrew text, but only with a somewhat unsure {C} decision. Translators should feel free to follow either text. The meaning is approximately the same, regardless of the text that is followed.
The latter part of the verse supports the idea that the rejoicing condemned was at the Harvest Festival. This festival was celebrated fifty days after the Passover at the end of the wheat harvest (see Lev 23.15-22; Num 28.26-31). In this context the peoples refers to non-Israelites. Good News Translation makes this clear by saying “pagans.”
For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God: For Revised Standard Version the Hebrew word ki rendered for introduces why the Israelites should stop celebrating like pagans. Good News Translation leaves it implied, but it is helpful to make the logical connection explicit. It is also possible that ki is an emphatic particle here, so Parole de Vie renders it “Indeed.”
For the Hebrew verb translated played the harlot, see the comments on 1.2 and 4.10, where it has both a literal and metaphorical sense. The same may be true here. Good News Translation uses nonfigurative language, saying “You … have been unfaithful to him [God].” Forsaking your God is literally “from with your God,” which Good News Translation renders “You have turned away from your God.” Good News Translation reverses the two parts of this line, since “turning away from God” is the first step in “being unfaithful to him.” This line reminds us of the harlotry of Hosea’s wife, which was symbolic of the unfaithfulness of Israel, Yahweh’s beloved.
You have loved a harlot’s hire upon all threshing floors: The Israelites thought that by worshiping Baal they would have more abundant crops. They believed their unfaithfulness (“harlotry”) yielded the grain they threshed. Harlot’s hire is a figure for the crops that the idolaters thought came from Baal (see 2.12). The broad threshing floor was a flat, somewhat elevated area, where people would crush and loosen the covering from the grains of wheat or barley, and would throw it all into the air so that the chaff would be blown away by the wind, leaving only the grains. The Israelites are celebrating a bountiful harvest at the festival, but an enemy will take it from them. Since the food products of the threshing floor and winevat fed the people, and since the second line clearly refers to wine, Good News Translation translates the first two items as “grain and olive oil.” Since Good News Translation is based on functional equivalence translation principles, this is justified. If the translation has to reflect the form of the original text, Bible en français courant provides a good model: “But the wheat that one throws into the air and the oil that one gets from the press will not be for you.” Translators should consider whether the use of the metonyms Threshing floor and winevat communicates the intended meaning in the receptor language. New Living Translation‘s “So now your harvests will be too small to feed you” is not recommended. The issue here is not crop failure, but rather an inability to enjoy the harvest, because people from elsewhere will consume it (see 8.7). In addition to that, the call not to rejoice in 9.1 would not make sense: crop failure is no reason for rejoicing.
Shall not feed them renders the Hebrew literally. Good News Translation clarifies the situation by saying “you will not have enough.” New English Bible, with the support of the Septuagint, emends the Hebrew verb here to read “shall know them no more,” but this reading is difficult to understand. In this case, there seems to be once again evidence of Hosea using the dialect of northern Israel, in which the verb for feed means to “satisfy.” In other words, the products that come from both the wine press and the threshing floor will not be able to satisfy their hunger and thirst, because others will consume it.
And the new wine shall fail them: The Hebrew word for new wine refers to raw grape juice before it is made into wine (see comments on 2.8, where it is rendered “wine”). This is the grape juice as it comes from the field as the bounty of the harvest. Shall fail them means that the supply of wine will not last, or even that there may be none left at all to satisfy Israel’s needs. NET Bible says “and new wine only deceives them,” suggesting that it may initially look fine, but eventually it is not enough for them.
Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) restructures the entire verse for smooth prose: “But you will not be able to enjoy the produce of the harvest which you have anticipated—the wheat, the oil, and the wine.” Another possible model is:
• The threshing floor and oil press will not deliver for you,
and wine will not flow for 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 .