ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Hosea 13.14

Book: Hosea · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid up in store. 13. The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of children.

14. I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O Sheol, where is thy destruction? repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

  1. Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the breath of Jehovah coming up from the wilderness; and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall make spoil of the treasure of all goodly vessels. 16. Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. (Hosea 13:12-16, ASV)
WEB

12. The guilt of Ephraim is stored up. His sin is stored up. 13. The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; for when it is time, he doesn’t come to the opening of the womb.

14. I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.

  1. Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure. 16. Samaria will bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.” (Hosea 13:12-16, WEB)
KJV

12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid. 13. The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. long: Heb. a time

14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. power: Heb. hand

  1. Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. pleasant: Heb. vessels of desire 16. Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. (Hosea 13:12-16, KJV)
YLT

12. Bound up [is] the iniquity of Ephraim, Hidden [is] his sin, 13. Pangs of a travailing woman come to him, He [is] a son not wise, For he remaineth not the time for the breaking forth of sons.

14. From the hand of Sheol I do ransom them, From death I redeem them, Where [is] thy plague, O death? Where thy destruction, O Sheol? Repentance is hid from Mine eyes.

  1. Though he among brethren produceth fruit, Come in doth an east wind, a wind of Jehovah, From a wilderness it is coming up, And it drieth up his fountain, And become dry doth his spring, It, it spoileth a treasure, every desirable vessel. 16. Become desolate doth Samaria, Because she hath rebelled against her God, By sword they do fall, Their sucklings are dashed in pieces, And its pregnant ones are ripped up! (Hosea 13:12-16, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: the LORD, through Hosea
  • Audience: the northern kingdom of Israel, under judgment
  • Location: the northern kingdom
  • Time period: the eighth century BC, before the fall of Samaria in 722

Theological reading

O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction. Paul quotes this verse at the climax of 1 Corinthians 15, where it becomes one of the best known lines in Christian eschatology. In Hosea the context is considerably darker than its later use suggests.

The immediate setting is judgment on Ephraim, and the verse is surrounded by it. The line that follows in Hosea is repentance shall be hid from mine eyes, and the chapter continues into the announcement that Samaria shall bear her guilt. Because of that, many commentators read the questions in verse 14 not as promises but as summons: the LORD is calling death and the grave to do their work rather than announcing their defeat. On that reading the verse is a threat, and the King James rendering as a promise reflects one interpretive choice among several.

This does not make Paul's use illegitimate, but it does mean the relationship is more interesting than a simple prediction and fulfilment. Paul reads the verse eschatologically, in the light of the resurrection, and he modifies the wording, replacing the second noun with a repetition of death and pairing it with victory in a way that follows the Septuagint tradition more than the Hebrew. He is doing what he does elsewhere with the Psalms and Isaiah: taking a text whose original setting is judgment on Israel and hearing in it the final defeat of the power that judgment served.

Stating this openly is better apologetics than hiding it. The charge that the New Testament quotes the Old out of context is answered not by denying that the settings differ but by showing that the practice is a considered hermeneutic with a rationale, which is the subject of the broader treatment of the New Testament use of the Old.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Lexicon:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.