Hos 6:4 | NET2full | STEP | What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim ? What am I going to do with you, O Judah ? For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist ; it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew .

‏ Hosea 6:4

Transitory Faithfulness and Imminent Judgment

4 What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim?
What am I going to do with you, O Judah?
For ^{▼▼tn The vav prefixed to וְחַסְדְּכֶם (vekhasdekhem, “your faithfulness”) functions in an explanatory sense (“For”).} your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; ^{▼▼tn Heb “your faithfulness [so NCV; NASB “your loyalty”; cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “your love”] is like a morning cloud” (וְחַסְדְּכֶם כַּעֲנַן־בֹּקֶר, vekhasdekhem kaʿanan boqer).} ^{▼▼sn The Hebrew poets and prophets frequently refer to the morning clouds as a simile for transitoriness (e.g., Job 7:9; Isa 44:22; Hos 6:4; 13:3; BDB 778 s.v. עָנָן 1.c). For discussion of this phenomena in Palestine, see Chaplin, PEQ (1883): 19.}
it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew. ^{▼▼tn Heb “the dew departing early” (BDB 1014 s.v. שָׁכַם); cf. NRSV “the dew that goes away early.” The Hiphil participle מַשְׁכִּים (mashkim) means “to depart early” (Gen 19:27; Josh 8:14; Judg 19:9). The idiom means “early morning” (1 Sam 17:16).}