Verse of the Day 1.12.18: Hosea 6:3
Text
3 וְנֵדְעָ֣ה נִרְדְּפָ֗ה לָדַ֨עַת֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֔ה כְּשַׁ֖חַר נָכ֣וֹן מֽוֹצָאֹ֑ו וְיָב֤וֹא כַגֶּ֨שֶׁם֙ לָ֔נוּ כְּמַלְק֖וֹשׁ י֥וֹרֶה אָֽרֶץ׃1
Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.2
Today, C4C is studying Hosea 6.
C4C Translation
Let us know.
Let us press on to know the LORD.
Like the sure sunrise is His going out.
He will come to us like rain,
Like spring rain that waters the earth
The word translated sure is a passive participle (Niphal stem) of the verb כוּן | kûn, which means “established, prepared, made ready, fixed, certain, right.”3 Hence the NIV’s “surely.” It is a simile that compares the certainty of the sunrise with the certainty of the Lord’s coming.
I structure my cola (a colon is a “subunit of a line.” In English translations, they are usually indicated by indentation.)4 differently than most modern translations (which may mean that I’m wrong!). Though many other translations see my first two cola as one colon (NRSV, ESV, HCSB, etc.), I see correspondence between the first two cola (cf. NIV, though they add “the LORD”) and among the last three cola.
The LORD’s “act… of going out” ( מוֹצָא | môṣāʾ)5seems to be paralleled to His certain (i.e. sure) coming. His coming is then likened to rain, to spring rain that “refreshes the earth.”6
I take this to be a kind of advancing parallelism, in which the final two cola advance the theme of the third colon (“Like the sure sunrise is His going out”).7
Memorization
Memorize Hosea 6:3 after watching a brief video tutorial demonstrating the How to Memorize Any Bible Verse in Less Than Five Minutes method below:
Sources
- Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: With Werkgroep Informatica, Vrije Universiteit Morphology; Bible. O.T. Hebrew. Werkgroep Informatica, Vrije Universiteit. (Logos Bible Software, 2006), Ho 6:3.
- The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ho 6:3.
- John N. Oswalt, “964 כוּן,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 433.
- Mark D. Futato, CM328 Preaching the Psalms, Logos Mobile Education (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015).
- Emphasis added. Paul R. Gilchrist, “893 יָצָא,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 393.
- Jewish Publication Society, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985), Ho 6:3.
- “‘Advancing parallelism’…Line B advances the theme presented in line A.” W. D. Tucker Jr., “Psalms 1: Book Of,” ed. Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings (Downers Grove, IL; Nottingham, England: IVP Academic; Inter-Varsity Press, 2008), 586.