My people are obsessed ¹  with turning away from me; ²  they call to Baal, ³  but he will never exalt them!

biblegateway Hos 11:7

So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.

My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to Him on high, He will not exalt them at all.

My people are determined to turn away from me. Even if they call to the Most High, he will not pardon them.

biblegateway Hos 11:7

My people are determined to turn from me. Even if they call to the Most High, he will by no means exalt them.

My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.

bibleoremus Hos 11:7

My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.

My people are bent on rebellion, but though they call in unison to Baal he will not lift them up.

biblegateway Hos 11:7

My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him .

And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt [him].

biblegateway Hos 11:7

My people are obsessed ¹  with turning away from me; ²  they call to Baal, ³  but he will never exalt them!

¹ tn The term תְלוּאִים (tÿlu’im, Qal passive participle masculine plural from תָּלָא, tala’, “to hang”) literally means “[My people] are hung up” (BDB 1067 s.v. תָּלָא). The verb תָּלָא//תָּלָה (“to hang”) is often used in a concrete sense to describe hanging an item on a peg (Ps 137:2; Song 4:4; Isa 22:24; Ezek 15:3; 27:10) or the impaling of the body of an executed criminal (Gen 40:19, 22; 41:13; Deut 21:22, 23; Josh 8:29; 10:26; 2 Sam 21:12; Esth 2:23; 5:14; 6:4; 7:9, 10; 8:7; 9:13, 14, 25). It is used figuratively here to describe Israel’s moral inability to detach itself from apostasy. Several English versions capture the sense well: “My people are bent on turning away from me” (RSV, NASB), “My people are determined to turn from me” (NIV), “My people are determined to reject me” (CEV; NLT “desert me”), “My people persist in its defection from me” (NJPS), and “they insist on turning away from me” (TEV).

² tn The 1st person common singular suffix on the noun מְשׁוּבָתִי (mÿshuvati; literally, “turning of me”) functions as an objective genitive: “turning away from me.”

³ tc The meaning and syntax of the MT is enigmatic: וְאֶל־עַל יִקְרָאֻהוּ (vÿ’el-’al yiqra’uhu, “they call upwards to him”). Many English versions including KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT take the referent of “him” as the “most High.” The BHS editors suggest reading וְאֶל־בַּעַל יִקְרָא וְהוּא (vÿ’el-ba’al yiqra’ vehu’, “they call to Baal, but he…”), connecting the 3rd person masculine singular independent personal pronoun וְהוּא (vÿhu’, “but he…”) with the following clause. The early Greek recensions (Aquila and Symmachus), as well as the Aramaic Targum and the Vulgate, vocalized עֹל (’ol) as “yoke” (as in 11:4): “they cry out because of [their] yoke” (a reading followed by TEV).