Hosea 5:2

"And the revolters are gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them all."

Some scholars have exclaimed that this rendition of the Hebrew text (the Masoretic text) makes no sense at all, and many have pointed out that the text which has come down to us is significantly flawed. It is this fact which underlies the radically different renditions with which scholars have attempted to translate such a passage as this. There are, for example, the following:

"The rebels! They have shown base ingratitude, but I will punish them all." - New English Bible.

"You have turned aside victims into the depth; and I am the teacher of them all." - Catholic Bible.

"And they have made deep the pit of Shittim: but I will chastise all of them." - Revised Standard Version.

"And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all." - King James Version.

The translators are not to blame for the uncertainty, which is due to the flawed text of this part of God's word which has been handed down through history; and, as Pfeiffer noted, "The translation of these words has troubled Biblical scholars since ancient times."[5] There simply has to be a certain amount of guessing and speculation in putting together any kind of an intelligent rendition here. It should be noted, however, that while this surely applies in a very limited way to passages here and there, the great message that thunders from the pages of this great prophecy is un- mistakably clear, there being no uncertainty whatever concerning it.

Again, regarding Hosea 5:2, the rendition suggested by W. R. Harper and others at the turn of this century, was finally adopted as the best and incorporated into the Revised Standard Version (RSV), as given above. This rendition appears to be quite logical and has the advantage of carrying forward the metaphor of hunting devices such as the snare and the net mentioned in Hosea 5:1. If the RSV is followed here, we have a third kind of device, for taking large game, the "pit". "This is the triple figure, borrowed from the hunter, employed to designate the entanglements into which Israel has fallen."[6]

The RSV also fits in another way. The mention of Shittim as the place of the "deep pit" seems to follow logically the reference to Mizpah and Tabor where the snare and the net were placed.

Shittim is the place where Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor (Numbers 25:1ff). The probability is that Hosea singled out sites at which leaders had led Israel into the worship of false gods, probably Baal.[7]

None of the renditions cited above is actually contradictory to this understanding of the passage.