HOS 13:5 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 13:1–16: The LORD’s anger against Israel

In this section, the LORD gives reasons for his anger against Israel. It was necessary to judge them because they continued to rebel against him.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Final Judgment on Israel (GNT)

The Lord’s Relentless Judgment on Israel (ESV)

Ephraim’s Idolatry (NASB)

Paragraph 13:4–8

In this paragraph, the LORD is the speaker. He states a complaint against the people of Israel. He always took care of them, but they forgot him. He must punish them in response.

13:5

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^5a I knew you in the wilderness,

^5b in the land of drought.

There is an ellipsis (deliberate omission) of the first four words in 13:5b. In many languages, these words will need to be supplied from 13:5a. For example:

^5b I knew you in the land of drought.

In these lines, the LORD reminds the people of Israel of his gracious care for them when he brought them out of Egypt through the desert of Sinai.

13:5a

I knew you in the wilderness,

It was I who cared for you^(plur) in the desert/wilderness,
I am the one who fed your ancestors in a large area

I knew you: In Hebrew, this clause is more literally “I, I knew you.” The explicit pronoun I at the front of the clause indicates emphasis.Andersen and Freedman (page 634), Macintosh (page 528), and McComiskey (page 216). For example:

It was I who knew you in the wilderness (ESV)

This emphasis reinforces the statements in 13:4 that the LORD alone is their God. Many versions leave this emphasis implied. Translate this emphasis in a natural way in your language.

There is a textual issue concerning the Hebrew word knew here:TN will regard this as a textual issue, as suggested by several commentators and the NET footnote on “cared” for this verse. It is also possible to analyze this issue as an interpretation difference. See more details in the following endnote.

The LXX and Peshitta have “cared-for/fed.”Some scholars propose that these versions translate the Hebrew word ra’ah, “to feed/protect.” See HALOT (electronic edition, page 1259), Stuart (page 203), and Davies (page 289). An alternative proposal is that the meaning “to care for” is a sense of the word yaḏa’, “to know.” See HALOT (electronic edition, page 391) sense 7a, Macintosh (page 528) and Hubbard (page 216). For example:
It was I who fed you in the wilderness (NRSV)
I cared for you in the wilderness (NET) (CEV, GNT, GW, NASB, NET, NIV, NJB, NJPS, NLT, NRSV, REB)
The Masoretic Text has the word knew. For example:
It was I who knew you in the wilderness (RSV) (BSB, ESV, KJV, RSV)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) along with most versions.

in the wilderness: This phrase refers here to the desert or wilderness of Sinai during the period of the exodus.Stuart (page 203).

13:5b

in the land of drought.

where it was hot and dry.
of heat and drought.

in the land of drought: This line describes the same location as 13:5a using different words. The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as drought occurs only here in the Old Testament. The meaning is derived from an Arabic cognate that means “aridity” or “drought.”McComiskey (page 216), Macintosh (page 529), and Garrett (pages 257–258).

Here are some other ways to translate this line:

where it was hot and dry (NCV)

in the land of burning heat (NIV)

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.