Continued from Chapter 11e

The sacrifices of our lips ̶ ̶ Hosea 14:3

The understanding that under certain circumstances prayer alone is sufficient in the atonement process is expressed in Hosea 14:3: “Take with you words, and return to the Lord; say to Him: ‘Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; thus we will pay bullocks ̶ ̶ our lips.’”

The stich at Hosea 14:3c is best rendered in English as: "Thus, we will pay [our sacrificial obligations of] bullocks [with] our lips.” The Septuagint has a variant rendering that differs from that of the Hebrew Masoretic text. The Greek reads: “that we offer the fruit of [our] lips [as sacrifices to you].” This shows either that its translators emended the text, loosely interpreted the text, or that they used a variant Hebrew text that left off the final mem in parim, “bullocks,” resulting in the vocalization of the word as peri, “fruit.” (Hebrews 13:15 reads: “the fruit of lips” and reflects the Septuagint phrase.) This conjectured variant text renders the stich: “we will pay [to You] the fruit of our lips,” that is, we will fulfill our spoken vows to God. This has led to a modern scholarly debate about which version represents the original text. Some modern scholars have adopted the Septuagint’s version, usually with further emendations, as the correct text.

They believe it gives a clearer sense of the meaning than the Masoretic text. Other scholars suggest emending the text by moving the final mem to the beginning of the next word to produce peri misfateinu, “fruit from our lips,” that is, the prayers coming from our lips. A close examination of the Masoretic text makes both the ancient and modern emendations of the text at Hosea 14:3c unnecessary. The Masoretic text makes sense as it stands. To understand the stich at Hosea 14:3c a number of points need to be considered:

• First, the Masoretic biblical text consists of not only the words and their vocalization, but also of the trope, that is, the cantilization/punctuation. In this stich, the trope under the words are mercha, tipcha and sof-pasuk respectively. The tropes mercha and tipcha place emphasis on unshallema parim (“Thus, we will pay bullocks”), creating a clause that effectively separates these two words from the word sefateinu (“our lips”). This can be indicated in translation by a dash. The Hebrew understands the presence of “with” between the two parts of the stich.

• Second, the text is not written in prose, but is poetry. Therefore, understanding it must take account of the nature and form that characterizes the poetic style used to express the divine message. The noun parim functions as an adverbial accusative of state. Semantically, “bullocks” is the debt or obligation being discharged, “our lips” being the means of payment. Unshallema (shilleim, “to pay”) is in the pi’el form of the verb. The pi’el is used in the causative sense. The thought expressed by the use of the pi’el in this stich is that we will “make restitution” for our absent sacrificial obligations through the sincere prayers coming from our lips. In the poetic diction of the prophet we will “replace,” “restore,” “repay” the sacrificial offerings owed God with something of equal value (cf. Exodus 21:36, 2 Samuel 12:6, 2 Kings 4:7). Consequently, sincere repentant prayer, in effect, is equal to sacrificial offerings brought with a contrite heart. As a result of the aforementioned, the literal rendering of the stich: “Thus, we will pay bullocks ̶ ̶ our lips,” is for greater clarity expressed as: “Thus, we will pay [our sacrificial obligations of] bullocks [with] our lips.”

• Third, time and place of composition must be considered. The prophetic message is timeless for the Jewish people of all generations, but in the immediate historical context, Hosea prophesied in the Northern kingdom of Israel. His message was for all Israelites of both kingdoms and, in part, addressed the worthlessness of sacrifices when not accompanied by repentance and obedience to God (Hosea 5:6, 6:6). In the context of this stich, the prophet is addressing a procedural problem confronting the repentant sinner living in the Northern kingdom, but its implications are far reaching. In urging his fellow Israelites to repent their iniquities, he is aware that the religio-political difficulties prevented free access to the Jerusalem Temple. Therefore, Hosea stresses the universal principle of the biblical sacrificial system ̶ ̶ inward devotion and repentance expressed through contrite prayer brings God’s forgiveness.

In the immediate context, if the Israelites of the Northern kingdom will heed the prophet’s message and repent, God “will heal their backsliding” and turn His anger away from them (Hosea 14:5), There is no dependency or inclusion in someone else’s sacrifice; one’s own prayerful repentance can bring God’s forgiveness. The context of the full verse calls for turning to God with repentant prayer wherein the sinner asks for forgiveness. The prophetic message is that in the absence of the full atonement system God’s forgiveness of sins is still possible through contrite prayers of our lips.

© Gerald Sigal

Continued