Linear Bible Code

HOSEA: DECODED
The Hidden Prophecies
Reading the Text Backward
Volume III of the ‘Linear Bible Code’ Series
An Introduction to the Back Text of the Book of Hosea

The Text of Hosea
The printed text of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is used throughout; it has been shortened to BHS in this book. The footnotes of that great publication proved critical in parsing and translating the Masoretic Text. The Forward reading of the Text is plainly in error in many places. This is shown by the pointing of the consonants. One example that is multiplied is the misspelling of some verbs. The characteristic of omitting the plural masculine suffix is identified in at least four locations in the Text of Hosea: יבלעוהו 8.7 ;יקראוהו 11.7 ;סבבוני 12.1 ; and 5.15 ישחרוננו . The ‘vav’ that should be there, in each case, I have supplied all the while underlining it. In the printed Text this omission is supplied with the Qibbus (three slanted dots) below a consonant.

The Masoretic Text also has other misspellings that are typified by omitting of the ‘vav’. This ‘vav’ represents both the Holem and Qibbus sounds, the ‘o’ and the ‘u’. The omitting of this letter in the crucial spelling process forces the editors of the Stuttgartensia edition to supply it with the dotted vowels just mentioned.

Here are some examples of defective words of the ‘vav’ kind found. In Hosea 14.10 (chapter 1 paragraph 1 of the back text), the plural participle translated ‘transgressors’ lacks the Holem above the first letter: פשעים vs. פושעים . In Hosea 14.7 another plural participle lacks the ‘vav’. Compare what is written and what is read: ינקותיו vs. .יונקותיו.

Here is an example of a defective spelling of a word that reflects a missing ‘vav’ of the ‘u’ sound. In Hosea 14.4 the word translated ‘he shall be compassionate’ is written ירחם but is read ירוחם . The verb is in the Pual paradigm. The deficiency is rectified by printing the Qibbus beneath the ‘Resh’ letter. Another example of the Pual defectively spelled is in Hosea 14.1. The word translated ‘they shall be rejected’ is written ירטשו which then appears to be in the Kal paradigm. The editors have supplied the missing ‘vav’ with the Qibbus in order to make it Pual: .ירוטשו

It is quite common to find these defectively spelled words. They are so common many do not think them defective. They think a defective word is missing a letter other than ‘vav’; and they are right; but they do not go far enough.

An examination of an excellent lexicon of Biblical Hebrew, such as HELOT will point out the correct spelling of a word, such as a noun, as well as the exceptions. These exceptions mostly are characterized by the omission of the ‘vav’. What I am leading up to is the fact that in one verse we will find the word fully spelled out but in another location it is defective. In Hosea 12.10 we find the adverb ‘yet’ spelled without the ‘vav’ in the middle position: עד . The editors place a single dot above the ‘Ain’ to supply the missing ‘vav’. However, later in the book it is spelled correctly: עוד in 1.6.

Another example of defective spelling is the plural masculine noun translated ‘saints’ by some in Hosea 12.1. It is spelled with the ‘vav’ קדושים . However this spelling is the exception. The unusual spelling leaves off the ‘vav’; see Leviticus 11.44, .קדשים Now this plural word is an adjective and as such is a modifier of a noun. The defective spelling may easily be confused with the noun form which is written in the singular without the ‘vav’, קדש and in the plural as well.

In Hosea 11.4 the word ‘yoke’ is spelled with two letters: על . And so it is throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. GESENIUS however records that it is also spelled with the third letter elsewhere: עול ; see page 630b. In the back text this missing ‘vav’ is used to supply the demonstrative word ‘even’.

There is another type of defective spelling found in the Masoretic Text. At times the object of the sentence is missing. We see the incomplete sentence composed of a subject and the verb only. In Hosea 13.7 we find this sentence: כנמר על-דרך אשור . When I translate it I supply the object in italic letters. The object becomes clear from the previous sentence: “like a leopard beside the road I shall regard them.”

I have yet to describe the missing letter ‘yod’ in the Masoretic Text. To a lesser degree defective words omit this letter. The word ‘Jerusalem’ more often than not is spelled without it: ירושלם ; but check Jeremiah 26.18, ירושלים . The ‘yod’ comes and goes with other words like ‘lamp’; נר \ ניר and the word ‘Ephah, איפה \ אפה or take the word ‘rampart/fortress’. This may be spelled with or without the ‘yod’: .חל \ חיל I have made this quick survey of defective and alternate spellings to prepare the reader for the back text of Hosea.