Hosea 13:15

Footnotes

1. 31 The reads בֵּן אַחִים יַפְרִיא (ben ’akhim yafri’, “he flourishes [as] a son of brothers”), which is awkward syntactically and enigmatic contextually. The Greek, , and Latin versions reflect a of בֵּין אַחִים יַפְרִיד (ben ’akhim yafrid, “he causes division between brothers”). The editors suggest the confused the common term אָח (’akh, “brother”) for the rarer term אָחוּ (’akhu, “marsh plant, reed plant” [Job 8:11] and “reed bed” [Gen 41:2, 18; אָחוּ]). This is an Egyptian loanword which is also attested in Ugaritic and Old Aramaic. The original text probably read either כְּאָחוּ מַפְרִיא (ké’akhu mafri’, “he flourishes like a reed plant”; comparative ךְּ, kaf, + noun אָחוּ, “reed” followed by Hiphil participle masculine singular from פָּרַה, parah, “to flourish”) or בֵּין אָחוּ מַפְרִיא (ben ’akhu mafri’, “he flourishes among the reeds”; preposition בֵּין, ben, “between” followed by masculine singular noun אָחוּ “reed” followed by Hiphil participle masculine singular from פָּרַה). The confusion over אָחוּ (“reed plant”) probably led to secondary scribal errors: (1) faulty word-division of אָחוּ מַפְרִיא to אָחוּם יַפְרִיא, and (2) secondary orthographic confusion of י (yod) and ו (vav) between אָחוּם and resultant אָחִים. For discussion, see D. Barthélemy, e.d., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:268–69. Several English versions retain the : “even though he thrives among his brothers” (), “Though he be fruitful among his brethren” (), “No matter how much you prosper more than the other tribes” (), “Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers (). Others adopt one of the two emendations: (1) “though he flourishes among the reeds” (, , ), and (2) “even though he flourishes like weeds” (), “though he may flourish as the reed plant” (). Or “among the reed plants” (cf. , , ).
2. 32 The וְיֵבוֹשׁ (véyevosh, “will be ashamed”; vav + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from בּוֹשׁ, bosh, “to be ashamed”) does not fit the context. The , , and reflect a of וְיוֹבִישׁ (véyovish, “will dry up”; vav + Hiphil imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from יָבַשׁ, yavash, “to be dry”; יבשׁ 1). This fits well with the parallel וְיֶחֱרַב (véyekherav, “will become dry”; vav + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from חָרַב, kharav, “to be dry”). See Isa 42:15; 44:27; Jer 51:36. The variant read by the ancient versions is followed by almost all modern English versions (as well as , ).
3. 33 The term “wind” is not repeated in the Hebrew text at this point but is implied; it is supplied in the translation for clarity.