Monday, October 3, 2016

My Husband

Scholars seem to disagree on whether verses 18-25 go with what comes before.  Hans Walter Wolff, who I'm using for the detail-oriented view, says there's a break before verse 18, and that we begin a new (and much later) oracle today--but he quotes others who say it's a continuation.  I'll let you be the judge:
18. And on that day
        -- This is a saying of YHWH --
                    you will call me "my man."
    And you will not call me "my Ba'al" anymore.
19. And I will remove the name of the Ba'als from her mouth,
    And they will not be remembered by their names anymore.
A strict translation of verse 18 would really begin, "And it shall be on that day..."  This is a common Hebrew expression that doesn't really belong in English, so accordingly most translations dispense with it.  But if you're peeking at a King James version, you'll find it there.  In any case, it's a way the prophets proclaim something that will happen in the future.