Proper Translation of Hosea 13:14

Which Translation Gets it Right?

  • NASB/ESV

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • KJV

    Votes: 4 80.0%
  • NET

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other: Explain please

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5
Status
Not open for further replies.

Jeff Burns

Puritan Board Freshman
I'll be preaching this Sunday on 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 wherein Paul quotes Hosea 13:14. Upon reading this passage in the NASB I was more than a little confused by both the original context in Hosea and how Paul was bringing it into 1 Cor. So, I spent a couple of hours and think I have pretty much figured it out.

I haven't appealed to any commentaries yet (I usually try to figure out as much as I can on my own before going back to "check my work" as it were with a commentary).

So here are the ways it's translated in a couple of versions.

NASB© 13:14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight.

ESV© 13:14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

KJV© 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

NET© 13:14 Will I deliver them from the power of Sheol? No, I will not! Will I redeem them from death? No, I will not! O Death, bring on your plagues! O Sheol, bring on your destruction! My eyes will not show any compassion!

The NASB and ESV are essentially the same. In these two translations the ambuguity is left in the text.

The KJV reading advocates a positive response to the questions, as well as Yahweh as the speaker plaguing and destroying death and the grave. (Any insight into the textual basis behind that translation would be appreciated.

The NET supplies negative answers to the stated questions and solidifes the impending judgment of the Northern Kingdom.

What say ye?
 
As for why Jehovah would be the speaker of these lines, just look back through vv4-11.

Paul may be drawing (1Cor.15) on a current Gk (LXX?) rendering of v14. It could be that v was conceived as repeating the thrust of the query, v10, "Where...?" (see how both vv contain "I will," followed by statements or rhetorical questions). In any case, I see the parallels between vv10 & 14 as rising, rather than falling (as Paul also sees), to the indomitable power of God the King. The other view of the parallel would seem to focus on the impotence of the earthly kings/judges to avoid judgment.

In either case, the final line of v14 must also be interpreted, but again you can note a parallel between that line and v11. Here, as I see it, is the "downbeat." Paraphrasing: As formerly, I was angry and gave you a king; and still angry, I then removed him; so now (still seeing no repentance) I have no pity on you (though I have just asserted my power over the worst of enemies, and could save you). Paul, for his part, is saying that God has now in Christ done according to that previous declaration of power.
 
As for why Jehovah would be the speaker of these lines, just look back through vv4-11.

I agree that Jehovah is the speaker here. I think that naturally flows from the plain reading of the text.

I see the parallels between vv10 & 14 as rising, rather than falling (as Paul also sees), to the indomitable power of God the King. The other view of the parallel would seem to focus on the impotence of the earthly kings/judges to avoid judgment.

So, if I understand you correctly, you see the impotence of the kings in v10 to be building into a comparison with Jehovah in v14, as the one who will one day execute His power over death and the grave?


Paraphrasing: As formerly, I was angry and gave you a king; and still angry, I then removed him; so now (still seeing no repentance) I have no pity on you (though I have just asserted my power over the worst of enemies, and could save you). Paul, for his part, is saying that God has now in Christ done according to that previous declaration of power.

So here you would see the final phrase of v14 as referring to Jehovah hiding his face the possible repentance of the Israelites once judgment comes? It seems to me like the more direct reference to repentance here would be that He will not repent (or relent) from vanquishing death and the grave.

Helpful thoughts for sure.

One hang up I have with the KJV rendering is the seeming discontinuity with the historical annihilation of the Northern Kingdom which is about the take place. It seems to me like the KJV has a more optimistic view of God's dealings with His people (destroying death and the grave, as opposed to unleashing death and the grave).
 
I hope this helps. Below are two english translations of the LXX.




I shall rescue them from the hand of Hades and shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where is your sentence? O Hades, where is your goad? Comfort is hidden from my eyes.

Benjamin G. Wright; Pietersma, Albert; Wright, Benjamin G. (2007-10-31). A New English Translation of the Septuagint (p. 789). Oxford University Press, USA. Kindle Edition.

[ ho.13.14 ] εκ [FROM OUT OF] χειρος [THE HAND] αδου [HADES] ρυσομαι [I WILL RESCUE] αυτους [THEM] και [AND] εκ [FROM OUT OF] θανατου [PLAGUE] λυτρωσομαι [I WILL RANSOM] αυτους [THEM] που [WHERE] η [THE] δικη [WITH PUNISHMENT] σου [YOU] θανατε [O DEATH] που [WHERE] το [THE] κεντρον [A SPUR] σου [YOU] αδη [HADES] παρακλησις [COMFORT] κεκρυπται [IS HID] απο [FROM] οφθαλμων [THE EYES] μου [MY]

Dickey, Joshua (2010-12-08). Interlinear Greek Old Testament Septuagint (Kindle Locations 224562-224575). Kindle Edition.
 
Thomas Hall, whose work on ch. 13 was employed in completing the Burroughs commentary, says:

This verse is a kind of parenthesis, and being taken entirely in itself, the context will run more smoothly. It is full of knots and difficulties, having almost as many interpretations as interpreters, and as many various lections as words.
 
So, if I understand you correctly, you see the impotence of the kings in v10 to be building into a comparison with Jehovah in v14, as the one who will one day execute His power over death and the grave
The parallel I'm talking about is primarily God and God--v10: God speaking, "I would be your king (your human-kings are impotent to save from anything); and v14: God speaking, "I would save you from death and the grave!" The human kings are a foil in v10.

So here you would see the final phrase of v14 as referring to Jehovah hiding his face the possible repentance of the Israelites once judgment comes? It seems to me like the more direct reference to repentance here would be that He will not repent (or relent) from vanquishing death and the grave.
If I'm correct about the first parallel, then the following "downbeat" parallel just makes good sense to me. The language of "pity" doesn't seem to work well, so far as I'm concerned, as direct-address to personified "death" and "grave," even if you gloss with "repent/relent." I would say Hosea's word-choice points the interpreter back to human actors.

One hang up I have with the KJV rendering is the seeming discontinuity with the historical annihilation of the Northern Kingdom which is about the take place. It seems to me like the KJV has a more optimistic view of God's dealings with His people (destroying death and the grave, as opposed to unleashing death and the grave).
Well, I don't think Apostle Paul is offering his audience a "re-reading" or "re-interpretation" of what is there in Hosea, when he gives us an authoritative reading and interpretation of the original. If he's following a pre-existent translational rendering, or establishing a Gk rendering (which makes it into a "standardized" LXX) from the Hebrew, I don't believe he's introducing a different idea than the original text means to convey. I don't believe any of the Apostles or NT writers ever do this.

Holy Spirit doesn't intend anything contrary to the limits of Hosea's own prophetic understanding, but he many mean MORE than Hosea could have personally explained, which truth comes to light with greater revelation and fulfillment. But suggesting that Hosea "reads" rightly in one direction for his own age, and "reads inverted" (literally saying the opposite thing) rightly for the NT age, is untenable from a literary standpoint. If we think so, we probably have an improper or at least a badly calibrated hermeneutic. G.K.Beale edited a book that contains a number of challenges to a common, modern (and erroneous, in my opinion) principle that the Apostles subverted a whole variety of OT texts to their own purposes. http://www.amazon.com/Right-Doctrine-Wrong-Texts-Testament/dp/0801010888. Beale himself is a champion of the position I'm asserting here, namely that the NT writers are the superior (and properly contextual) OT interpreters; although this position seems to be in the minority today, from both the left and the right.

If Hosea, and later the NT writers, all mean to keep reminding their readers (of any age) that the real focus of events is the coming Messiah, or Messiah now come, then there isn't anything odd about interjecting a word of hope in the midst of a passage that mainly deals in judgment and condemnation. It is an ordinary prophetic device that calls for faith in the promise, in the middle of portents of judgment.
 
Bruce, very helpful. I'm going to have to chew on this for a while today... Thanks for your careful insight.
 
Well, I don't think Apostle Paul is offering his audience a "re-reading" or "re-interpretation" of what is there in Hosea, when he gives us an authoritative reading and interpretation of the original. If he's following a pre-existent translational rendering, or establishing a Gk rendering (which makes it into a "standardized" LXX) from the Hebrew, I don't believe he's introducing a different idea than the original text means to convey. I don't believe any of the Apostles or NT writers ever do this.

Holy Spirit doesn't intend anything contrary to the limits of Hosea's own prophetic understanding, but he many mean MORE than Hosea could have personally explained, which truth comes to light with greater revelation and fulfillment. But suggesting that Hosea "reads" rightly in one direction for his own age, and "reads inverted" (literally saying the opposite thing) rightly for the NT age, is untenable from a literary standpoint. If we think so, we probably have an improper or at least a badly calibrated hermeneutic.

After much thought, I think this is the most important thing to consider when approaching this, or any other text. I agree that Paul is not reinterpreting Hosea's original message; and, after much consideration, it seems silly to even think that he would be taking a judgment text and turning it into a promise to be fulfilled. Keil and Delitzch comment that too many commentators have missed the proper understanding of 13:14 by ignoring the text of the verse itself in favor of the context of vv.13 & 15. It's easy to do, but that doesn't make it correct. Thanks again for your insight Bruce. I really do appreciate it!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top