5:13 When Ephraim saw 3 his sickness
and Judah saw his wound,
then Ephraim turned 4 to Assyria,
and begged 5 its great king 6 for help.
But he will not be able to heal you!
He cannot cure your wound! 7
1 tn Heb “stirred up the spirit of.”
2 tn Heb “and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria.” “Pul” and “Tilgath-pilneser” were names of the same Assyrian ruler, more commonly known as Tiglath-pileser (cf. 2 Kgs 15:29).
3 tn Hosea employs three preterites (vayyiqtol forms) in verse 13a-b to describe a past-time situation.
4 tn Heb “went to” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); CEV “asked help from.”
5 tn Heb “sent to” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
6 tc The MT reads מֶלֶךְ יָרֵב (melekh yarev, “a contentious king”). This is translated as a proper name (“king Jareb”) by KJV, ASV, NASB. However, the stative adjective יָרֵב (“contentious”) is somewhat awkward. The words should be redivided as an archaic genitive-construct מַלְכִּי רָב (malki rav, “great king”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) which preserves the old genitive hireq yod ending. This is the equivalent of the Assyrian royal epithet sarru rabbu (“the great king”). See also the tc note on the same phrase in 10:6.
7 tn Heb “your wound will not depart from you.”