Hosea 12:12-13

Jacob in Aram, Israel in Egypt, and Ephraim in Trouble

12:12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram,

then Israel worked ¹  to acquire a wife;

he tended sheep to pay for her.

12:13 The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet,

and due to a prophet ²  Israel ³  was preserved alive. ⁴ 

[12:12]  ¹ tn Heb “served” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “earned a wife.”

[12:13]  ² tn Heb “by a prophet” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[12:13]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “was protected”; NASB “was kept.” The verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to watch, guard, keep, protect”) is repeated in 12:13-14 HT (12:12-13 ET). This repetition creates parallels between Jacob’s sojourn in Aram and Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness. Jacob “tended = kept” (שָׁמַר) sheep in Aram, and Israel was “preserved = kept” (נִשְׁמָר, nishmar) by Moses in the wilderness.