Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Dear List Members:

I have been reading through Hosea, and I have to admit that at least in
parts this is some of the most difficult Hebrew with which I have wrestled.
I’ll admit that in the past I have been lazy and skimmed through the book,
just recognizing that there was just too much I did not understand. As a
result, this time has been a long, slow slog.

Hosea 11:1 and 11:4 both have אהבה )HBH—even the ancient translators of the
LXX translated those as “love”, but is that accurate? Or are they both from
a verb הבה HBH? The contexts of both fit the understanding that they are
first person singular Yiqtol verbs. As such, the forms fit either הבה HBH
or אהב )HB. Which root do the contexts and meanings best fit?

This brings up a second question, namely is there any evidence from Tanakh
for the root יהב YHB? Yes, it is found in Aramaic, several times in both
Daniel and Ezra, but what about Hebrew? In Psalm 55:23 is found the only
example that might be cited, but context indicates that this example should
be read as a Yiqtol third person singular with a second person singular
object suffix, therefore this example is not evidence. All the other
examples indicate that the verb should be הבה HBH, הוב HWB or possibly הבב
HBB.

The next question after that, what is its definition? I’ll leave that to
another discussion.

Karl W. Randolph.