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[Salam]

I propose that the Hebrew was mistranslated, and that the word MHMD (without the diacritical signs/niqqud which are known historically to be later additions) is actually talking about Muhammad (and his 625 CE war with the Banu Nadir Jewish tribe) not the known Hebrew word "desirable/precious".

9:6-8

"Look! Even if they flee from the destruction,
Egypt will take hold of them,
and Memphis will bury them.
The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure
thorn bushes will occupy their homes.
The time of judgment is about to arrive!
The time of retribution is imminent!
Let Israel know!
The prophet is considered a fool
the inspired man is viewed as a madman
because of the multitude of your sins and your intense animosity.
The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God,
[NET annotation: The syntax of this line is difficult, and the text is questionable]
yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths;
animosity rages against him in the land of his God"

Hosea 9:6 says

כי-הנה הלכו מ:שד מצרים תקבצ:ם מף תקבר:ם מחמד ל:כספ:ם קמוש יירש:ם חוח ב:אהלי:הם

מִצְרַיִם תְּקַבְּצֵם
Egypt will gather them,
מֹף תְּקַבְּרֵם
Memphis will bury them,
מַחְמַד לְכַסְפָּם
The desirable things of their silver
קִמּוֺשׂ יִירָשֵׁם
Nettles possess them,
חוֺחַ בְּאָהֳלֵיהֶם
Thorn is in their tents.

The Hebrew text is written in neat, rhyming, 2-word blocks. The structure works in the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th line.. but translations failed to do the same for the 3rd line. Unsurprisingly, it's the problematic line.

It has two words: MHMD & "For Their Money/Silver".

New Oxford Annotated Bible says:

"Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver. (Meaning of Hebrew uncertain)"

The problem is: the Hebrew doesn't make sense, so many translations tried to come up with solutions.

The Jewish Study Bible had a cute solution. They changed the order of the lines, bringing the 3rd line (the pesky one about silver) to the top!

"Behold, they have gone from destruction
[With] the silver they treasure.
Egypt shall hold them fast,
Moph shall receive them in burial.
Weeds are their heirs;
Prickly shrubs occupy their [old] homes"

Also, notice the added "with".

The Pulpit Commentary:

"The LXX; again puzzled by the word maehmad, mistook it for a proper name"

They had to change it to something else. They made it a city's name.

μαχμας το αργυριον αυτων ολεθρος κληρονομησει ακανθαι εν τοις σκηνωμασιν αυτων

So the Septuagint changed the spelling completely!

It became מכמס (Strong #H4363, Mikmac) [A name of a city, literally means "Hidden"]

MHMD --> MKMS (!!)

Septuagint in English, Brenton's edition:

"Therefore, behold, they go forth from the trouble of Egypt, and Memphis shall receive them, and Machmas shall bury them: [as for] their silver, destruction shall inherit it; thorns [shall be] in their tents"

(See: The Septuagint Text of Hosea Compared with the Massoretic Text, The University of Chicago Press, by Gaylard H. Patterson)

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(There are many similarities between the events foretold in Hosea and what actually happened in 625 between Muhammad & Banu Nadir: He came for there money, "traps were laid for him" and they tried to assassinate him, a war started and "fire was on their cities", They were exiled from their "fortified cities", They forged alliances with the polytheists against Muhammad, "hired lovers among the nations", They were forced to abandon their homes, etc. But to understand these similarities you need a short historical introduction to the events of that war, Qur'an chapter 59, and Hosea 8:10-14

[jimwalton]

It's interesting that from the very first you have to change the verse to make it fit what you want it to say. That's not a good launch point.

> "Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver. (Meaning of Hebrew uncertain)"

You've exaggerated and misconstrued the uncertainty here. The question is mainly, "Does 'silver' go with 'precious' or something else? There's really nothing else for it to go with ('Precious' is usually associated with wives and children, but that's obviously not the point here), and since in Hosea 'silver' is mainly associated with idols (2.10; 8.4; 13.2), it makes sense that 'silver' goes with 'precious' and indicates their idols.

> The problem is: the Hebrew doesn't make sense, so many translations tried to come up with solutions.

The Hebrew does make sense, and so is easily translated. Even though the Jewish study Bible rearranged the lines, the translation is the same: the silver they treasure. In Lev. 26.30, the Israelites are warned that their dead bodies would be unceremoniously dumped on the dregs of their idols. Hosea sees the fulfillment of this curse, as here the people and their gods will come to a common end of destruction.

> "The LXX; again puzzled by the word maehmad, mistook it for a proper name"

Correct. It is the only translation that takes it as a proper name.

> (There are many similarities between the events foretold in Hosea and what actually happened in 625 between Muhammad & Banu Nadir

To take the Hosea prophecy of Israel's destruction is to wrench it completely out of its context. Hosea 9 is a prophecy of Israel's judgment at the hands of Assyria. They have been unfaithful, and utter destruction is in their future. The conditions you mentioned (He came for there money, "traps were laid for him" and they tried to assassinate him, a war started and "fire was on their cities", They were exiled from their "fortified cities", They forged alliances with the polytheists against Muhammad, "hired lovers among the nations") are true of hundreds of warfare scenarios. To take the Hosea text as a reference to Mohammad is totally unwarranted in the context and distorts the meaning of Hosea's prophecy about Israel.