NOUVELLES DE JÉRUSALEM - Automne 2017

My people perish for lack of the
knowledge. (Hos 4:6)
He will revive us after two days;
on the third day he will raise us
up and we will live before his face.
(Hos 6:2)
Out of Egypt I have called out to my
son. (Hos 11:1)
My heart has turned against me,
my consolations have been kindled
I will not do the heat of my anger...
For I myself am God and not man.
(Hos 11:8-9)
For I desire kindness and not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather
than burnt offerings. (Hos 6:6)
Where [is] your judgment, Death?
Where [is] your sting, Hades?
(Hos 13:14)
In compiling as best they could
fourteen chapters of glowing poetry,
the ancient prophet of more than
twenty-eight centuries ago and
those who transmitted him gathered
words that are forever living.
Complaints and threats by the lover
who had been turned away, the
groaning of the deceived and still
smitten husband, the implacable
indictment by the angry judge, the
triumphant blast of the trumpet, the
father’s tender encouragement of
his children – far from the immobile
first mover of Greek philosophy:
this is literally the heart of a passionate
God who pours out his feelings
that are turned upside down with
humanity in these inspired pages.
Collaborative Work
Eugen Pentiuc, who is now professor
of Old Testament and Hebrew
and Associate Dean of Academic
Affairs for Hellenic College and
Holy Cross in Brookline, MA, is
a former student of the ÉBAF. He
did us the favor of joining the research
program from the time it
was launched at the 2006 Catholic
Biblical Association (Fordham
University). As a specialist in Hosea,
he had already published a commentary
on this book in Romanian
in 2001. The impulse given to our
work by Eugen has brought to the
present writing its clearly philological
contour, perseverance in formulating
historical hypotheses throughout
Hosea’s ancient prophecies, and
an emphasis on the present-day relevance
of Hosea’s teaching about
the true personality of God, whose
intimacy with the human being
went even to the incarnation 2 . Three
other translators and philologists —
fr. Łukasz Popko op. (of the Ecole),
fr. Etienne Méténier beat., and Gad
Barnea — made it possible to perfect
the translation by moving to
notes all conjectures concerning the
Hebrew text and by systematically
adding the readings found in the
various versions, while eight other
scholars enriched it with the history
of the book’s reception.
2- cf. Eugen J. Pentiuc, Jesus the Messiah
in the Hebrew Bible, New York / Mahwah,
N.J.: Paulist Press, 2006
14 Lettre aux amis de l’ÉBAF - N° 94 - Automne 2017