1. But Judah still stays with God. The meaning of the verb rad (and its verbal root as well) is uncertain, and the translation is a surmise from the context.

the holy ones. Who these are is obscure. Some claim that this is a plural of majesty, referring to God, but that seems questionable.

2. herds the wind. This is the earliest occurrence of this vivid metaphor for futility that will be abundantly used in Qohelet.

chases the east wind. Bad things come from the east wind, blowing from the desert.

oil to Egypt is brought. Olive oil, an important product of the Land of Israel, would be exported to Egypt, implying both a commercial and a political relationship and thus a parallel to the pact with Assyria.

4. he cheated his brother. The verb ʿaqav is a negative etymology of the name Yaʿaqov, Jacob, and the one invoked by Esau when he discovers that Jacob has stolen his blessing. The birth narrative of the twins in Genesis 25 actually provides a more neutral etymology, relating it to ʿaqev, “heel,” which would make it mean “grab the heel.” Thus Hosea represents Jacob (which is to say, Israel) as a cheat from the womb, in keeping with the people’s behavior in the prophet’s time.

he strove with God. This is what the Hebrew says. The next line “corrects” this to a divine messenger or angel.

5. he wept and pleaded with him. This clause presents a rather different picture of the struggle with the divine adversary from the one in Genesis 32. Unlike the story in Genesis, the adversary here is reduced to tears and pleading.

At Bethel he did find him. In context, this has to mean that the mysterious stranger found Jacob at Bethel. Again, this differs from the tradition in Genesis, where the nocturnal encounter is at the Jabbok ford, whereas at Bethel, in Jacob’s flight to Aram, he had the epiphany of the angels ascending and descending on a ramp (or ladder).

And there he spoke with us. The import of this clause is unclear. Perhaps the people of Israel are represented as confidently declaring that God spoke to them at Bethel through Jacob. Bethel was a principal cult-site of the northern kingdom.

8. A huckster. This is a denunciation of Israel, using the noun kenaʿan—elsewhere, Canaan—to mean “trader” or “huckster,” evidently as a pejorative.

9. found power for myself. The same term, ʾon, that was used to explain Jacob’s conquest of God or angel is again invoked.

10. from the time of the land of Egypt. “The time of” is merely implied in an ellipsis.

Once more will I settle you in tents. This is best understood as a restoration of the idyllic early days, although some see it as a punishment. Or, since “the festival days” are mentioned, it could refer to pilgrims at the crowded Succoth festival staying in improvised tent accommodations.

13. for a woman he guarded the flocks. This is another ellipsis, the Hebrew saying only “he guarded.” The reference is to Jacob’s working for Laban for seven years as payment of a bride-price for the woman he loved, Rachel.

14. But by a prophet. The prophet is Moses. There is an antithesis here: Jacob labored for a woman, but it was by Moses (in Hebrew, the same preposition as “for”) that God rescued the Hebrews from slavery. Thus, the pedigree of the people as a whole is finer than the pedigree of Jacob-Israel.

it was guarded. The guarding of the people by a prophet is a nobler thing than the guarding of the flocks by Jacob.