Mazmur 44:14

44:14 You made us ¹  an object of ridicule ²  among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt. ³ 

Hosea 7:16

7:16 They turn to Baal; ⁴ 

they are like an unreliable bow.

Their leaders will fall by the sword

because their prayers to Baal ⁵  have made me angry.

So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. ⁶ 

[44:14]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:14]  ² tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”

[44:14]  ³ tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).

[7:16]  ⁴ tc The MT reads the enigmatic יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל (yashuvu lo’ ’al) which is taken variously: “they turn, but not upward” (NASB); “they do not turn to the Most High” (NIV); “they return, but not to the most High” (KJV). The BHS editors suggest יָשׁוּבוּ לַבַּעַל (yashuvu labba’al, “they turn to Baal”; so RSV) or יָשׁוּבוּ לַבְּלִיַּעַל (yashuvu labbÿliyya’al, “they turn to Belial”) which is reflected by the LXX.

[7:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “because their tongue.” The term “tongue” is used figuratively, as a metonymy of cause (tongue) for the effect (prayers to Baal).

[7:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “this [will] be for scorn in the land of Egypt”; NIV “they will be ridiculed (NAB shall be mocked) in the land of Egypt.”