[582] Very uncertain. Wellhausen reads from his idol, מעצבו.
[583] קצף: compare Arabic qṣf, "to break"; but there is also the assonant Arabic qṣb, "reed." The Rabbis translate foam: cf. the other meaning of קצף—outbreak of anger, which suggests bubble.
[584] Rosenmüller: more than in. These days are evidently not the beginning of the kingship under Saul (so Wellhausen), for with that Hosea has no quarrel, but either the idolatry of Micah (Judg. xvii. 3 ff.), or more probably the crime of Benjamin (Judg. xix. 22).
[585] Obscure; text corrupt, and in next verse uncertain.
[586] For the tense of the verse both participles are surely needed. Wellhausen thinks two redundant.
[587] Deut. xxv. 4; 1 Cor. ix. 9; 1 Tim. v. 18.
[588] LXX.: fruit of life.
[589] צדק surely in the sense in which we find it in Isa. xl. ff. LXX.: the fruits of righteousness shall be yours.
[590] We shall return to this passage in dealing with Repentance; see p. [345].
[591] So LXX. Wellhausen suspects authenticity of the whole clause.