Hosea 3: a New Translation with Introduction and Commentary

Abstract

This article is a part of the forthcoming commentary on the biblical Book of Hosea. It contains a new translation of chapter 3 with an introduction and a detailed philological commentary on the Hebrew text. In the commentary, we analyze a number of complex or rare words and expressions in the Bible: 1) rēaʕ “neighbor; 2) pānā “to turn” as a part of the expression “to turn to other gods”; 3) a rare word ʔǎšīšā – presumably “raisin cake”; 4) yāšab with the preposition lə- meaning “to wait”; 5) the expression hāyā lə-ʔīš “to be with a man”; 6) the cultic terms maṣṣēbōt “sacred stones”, ʔēpōd and tərāpīm; 7) ṭūb “kindness”; 8) bə-ʔaḥǎrīt ha-yyāmīm – literally “at the end of the days”. We also study morphologically ambiguous forms and complex syntactic constructions: 1) the passive participle ʔǎhūbā, which can have an active meaning; 2) the verbal form ʔäkkərähā, containing dagesh forte dirimens; the analysis of the form is accompanied by a detailed overview of the use of this sign; 3) the preposition ʔēl with a noun without a verb as a prepositional nominal predicate; 4) pāḥad “to be afraid” in combination with the directive preposition ʔēl as an example of constructio praegnans. At the level of exegesis, we analyze both popular and rare but convincing interpretations of the text. In some cases, we offer a new perspective on Hosea 3. We believe that verses 3:2–4 contain several allusions to the Exodus. We interpret verse 3:4 as a prophecy predicting the destruction of the sanctuaries of the Northern Kingdom.