Hosea 12:3–4

Footnotes

1. 4 The verb שָׂרָה (sarah) means “to strive, contend” ( שׂרה) or “persevere, persist” ( 975 שָׂרָה; see Gen 32:29). Almost all English versions render the verb here in terms of the former: , “contended”; “strove”; , “fought against.”
2. 5 The vocalizes the consonantal text וָיָּשַׂר (vayyasar, vav consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person masculine singular from שׂוּר, sur, “to see”); however, parallelism with שָׂרַה (sarah, “he contended”) in 12:3 suggested that it be vocalized as ויּשׂר (vav consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person masculine singular from שׂרה [“to strive, contend”]). The latter is followed by almost all English versions here.
3. 6 Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4. 7 For location see ; ; ; ; .
5. 8 The Leningrad Codex and the Allepo Codex both read 1st person common plural עִמָּנוּ (’immanu, “with us”). The and both reflect an alternate Hebrew of 3rd person masculine singular עִמוֹ (’imo, “with him”). The editors suggest emending the in favor of the Greek and . The internal evidence of 12:4–5 favors the 3rd person masculine singular reading. It is likely that the 1st person common plural ־נוּ reading on עִמָּנוּ arose due to a misunderstanding of the 3rd person masculine singular ־נוּ suffix on יִמְצָאֶנּוּ (yimtsa’ennu, “he found him”; Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 3rd person masculine singular suffix) which was probably misunderstood as the 1st person common plural suffix: “he found us.” Several English versions follow the and : “there he spoke with him” (, , , , , ). Others follow the : “there he spoke with us” (, , ). The Hebrew University Old Testament Project, which tends to preserve the whenever possible, adopts the reading but gives it only a “C” rating. See D. Barthélemy, e.d., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:262–63.