This verse begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction (King James Version “And”). Here it introduces a contrast with the previous verse, so it may be rendered “But” (Good News Translation, New Living Translation, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling). However, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh omit it.

I am the LORD your God …: I am the LORD your God resembles the message Moses was told to deliver to the Israelites (Exo 3.14). This statement is a reminder that Israel was to be in a close relationship with their God, and with no other God. It stands in sharp contrast with the declaration of Ephraim about himself in the previous verse.

From the land of Egypt can be a marker of time: Yahweh and Israel have had this close relationship ever since the time when Yahweh brought them safely out of slavery in Egypt. The translation of this phrase should not make it appear that either Yahweh or Israel had their beginning, or their ancestral home, in Egypt. De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling has “already since Egypt,” and New American Bible says “since the land of Egypt.” Similar renderings are “Ever since the land of Egypt” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “since your days in Egypt” (New Jerusalem Bible). Other translations focus on what that took place then; for example, Good News Translation says “who led you out of Egypt,” which is possibly based on the Septuagint. New Living Translation is similar with “who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.”

This reminder that Yahweh brought the Israelites out of Egypt now serves as an introduction to the next statement: I will again make you dwell in tents. These people who have said “I am rich” (verse 8) will become poor again, as they were when they lived in the desert after the Exodus. Here tents refers to portable dwellings made of cloth and/or animal skins (compare 9.6).

As in the days of the appointed feast: There is a textual problem in this line. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project favors the Hebrew text with a {B} rating, which reads “as in the days of meeting.” The Hebrew can be understood in the following different ways:

(1) Revised Standard Version assumes that it refers to the Feast of Shelters (Lev 23.33-43), which lasted seven days. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes this explicit by saying “as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar with “as you now only do for a few days during the festivals.” However, there is no evidence that the Feast of Shelters was celebrated during the time of Hosea, so this solution is not recommended.

(2) “As in the days of meeting” may refer to the time when Yahweh and Israel first met in the desert and became united as a people with him. They were not wealthy, yet their time of meeting their God was precious to them, more important than wealth. This seems to be the best understanding of the text. A possible model is “as when [first] we met.” Good News Translation expands this idea for clarity: “as you did when I came to you in the desert.”

(3) Another suggestion is that the word “meeting” refers to the Tent of Meeting, also known as the Tabernacle, which became the sign of the LORD’s presence when the Israelites had left Egypt. But this understanding is similar to the previous one, so it would be similar in translation.

A translation model for this verse is:

• But I am the LORD your God,
ever since the time in Egypt.
I will again make you live in tents
as you did when we met in the desert.

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 .