Hosea 7:6 - Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

Bible Comments

they, &c. Like the baker in Hosea 7:4.

their baker sleepeth. their anger smoketh: reading ye'shan 'apphem instead of yashen 'ophehem. Owing to the similarity in pronunciation and in the ancient form of Ayin (') and Aleph ('). these letters were interchanged. The Massorah contains lists of words where Aleph (= ') stands for Ayin (= ') and vice versa (see Ginsburg's Massorah, letter, vol. i, p. 57, 514; and letter, vol. ii, p. 390, 352, 360, &c). See notes on Isaiah 49:7; Amos 6:8; Zephaniah 3:1, &c. The Aram, and Syriac preserve the reading of the primitive text: "their anger smoketh all night" (like the "oven" in Hosea 7:4).

it: i.e. the oven.

Hosea 7:6

6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.