Hosea 13:5–6

Footnotes

1. 14 The reads יְדַעְתִּיךָ (yéda’tikha, Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 2nd person masculine singular suffix from יָדַע, yada’, “to know”), followed by , (“I did know thee”). The and reflect an alternate textual tradition of רְעִיתִיךָ (ré’it’kha, Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 2nd person masculine singular suffix from רָעָה, ra’ah, “to feed”), which is followed by most recent English versions (e.g., , , , , , , ).
2. 15 Heb “land of intense drought” or “intensely thirsty land.” The noun תַּלְאֻבוֹת (tal’uvot) occurs in the OT only here. It probably means “drought” ( 520 תַּלְאֻבָה). The related Arabic verb means “to be thirsty” and the related Arabic noun means “a stony tract of land.” The plural form (singular = תַּלְאֻבָה, tal’uvah) is a plural of intensity: “a [land] of intense drought.” The term functions as an attributive genitive, modifying the construct אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”). The phrase is variously rendered: “land of (+ great ) drought” (, ), “thirsty land” (), “thirsty desert” (), “dry, desert land” (), and the metonymical (effect for cause) “land of burning heat” ().
3. 16 The reads כְּמַרְעִיתָם (kémar’itam, “according to their pasturage”; preposition ךְּ (kaf) + noun מַרְעִית, mar’it, “pasture” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix). Text-critics propose: (1) כְּמוֹ רְעִיתִים (kémo ré’itim, “as I pastured them”; preposition כְּמוֹ (kémo) + Qal perfect 1st person common singular from רָעַה, ra’ah, “to pasture, feed” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) and (2) כִּרְעוֹתָם (“when they had pastured”; preposition ךְּ + Qal perfect 3rd person masculine plural from רָעַה). Some English versions follow the : “according to their pasture” (), “as they had their pasture” (), “when you entered the good land” (). Others adopt the first emendation: “when I fed them” (, ), “I fed you [sic = them]” (). Still others follow the second emendation: “but when they had fed to the full” (), “when they grazed” ().
4. 17 Heb “their heart became exalted”; , “was exalted.”