Help from a scholar on a textual variant or translation variant, Hosea 11:12b

Myke Harbuck

Can someone provide the best resources by which to determine the reasons for the difference in translation of NASB vs ESV on this verse? Any wisdom or direction would be appreciate. 

JT (alabama24)

Normally the answer is the UBS handbook series. Are you familiar with those? In this case, however, there isn't a volume on Hosea. [:s]

DMB

Myke, you likely have HALOT, which hones in on this verse specifically for the translation variation (look up 'wander' or 'roam').

Tanakh freely admits unknown translation, but agrees with ESV. The problem is both grammar (Judah with or apart from Israel, and the connector to the verb), and the verb itself. 

Fr Devin Roza

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/916259#Comment_916259

Looks like it is somewhat unclear... here are some commentaries on 11:12b (or 12:1b depending on translation numbering):

NET Bible

The verb רוּד (rud, “to roam about freely”) is used in a concrete sense to refer to someone wandering restlessly and roaming back and forth (BDB 923 s.v. רוּד; Judg 11:37). Here, it is used figuratively, possibly with positive connotations, as indicated by the preposition עִם (’im, “with”), to indicate accompaniment: “but Judah still goes about with God” (HALOT 1194 s.v. רוד). Some English versions render it positively: “Judah still walks with God” (RSV, NRSV); “Judah is restive under God” (REB); “but Judah stands firm with God” (NJPS); “but Judah yet ruleth with God” (KJV, ASV). Other English versions adopt the negative connotation “to wander restlessly” and nuance עִם in an adversative sense (“against”): “Judah is still rebellious against God” (NAB), “Judah is unruly against God” (NIV), and “the people of Judah are still rebelling against me” (TEV).

Anchor Yale Bible Commentary:

Most translations of v 1b place Judah in a favorable light, influenced by a general expectation that all references to Judah in Hosea contrast with his disapproval of the north. In the present context the adjective neʾĕmān, “reliable,” which refers to one of God’s great attributes, is taken to set the tone for the whole. The meaning of its apparent parallel rād is unknown, but it is assumed to be a synonym equally laudatory. When rād is emended, the result is usually positive. Thus RSV “Judah is still known (ydʿ) by God” (11:11) draws support from LXX. The Hebrew text that can be glimpsed though this attempt of the Greek translator is close enough to what we now have to generate suspicion that the translator has done his best with a text that presented the same difficulties to him as it does to us.

Looking first at Hosea’s general attitude to Judah and accepting the references to Judah as authentic, we are influenced from the outset by the traditional interpretation of the first occurrence of Judah, at 1:7. Here Yahweh’s supposed compassion toward Judah stands in contrast with his rejection of Israel. The same contrast has been imposed on 12:1. Ephraim-House of Israel’s relationship with Yahweh is characterized by lies and deception, whereas Judah is rād and neʾĕmān with God. We have expressed doubts about the traditional interpretation of 1:7 and linked Judah with Israel in the same condemnation. There are numerous other places in Hosea where Judah and Ephraim are treated in the same way (5:5, 12, 13; 6:4, 10–11; 8:14; 10:11). The hypothesis that Hosea is anti-Ephraim and pro-Judah would never have gained a footing had 1:7 not come so early in the book.
So far as 12:1 is concerned, a statement congratulating Judah on loyalty to God is difficult, since v 3 asserts that Yahweh has a lawsuit against Judah. To get rid of this evidence by reading “Israel” instead of “Judah” in v 3a is a desperate, if popular, step. We have only to remember the gravity of the charge against Judah in 5:10.
In analyzing a bicolon like v 1b, it is a common grammatical principle that a two-word phrase can be distributed over the two cola in the parallelismus membrorum. While matching words are often synonyms, it is also possible to have a lead noun in the first colon and an attributive adjective V 24, p 602 p 602 or modifier in the second (O’Connor 1980). The phrase ʾēl … qĕdôšîm affords a good example in this bicolon, although the discord in number is a problem, and rād … neʾĕmān may be another. Perhaps Judah is a trustworthy rād with the “holy god(s).” This does not prove that rād is a virtue, unless we already know that Judah’s trustworthiness is with Yahweh, i.e. Yahweh is the “holy god.” To make this identification we must suppose that v 1b contrasts Judah’s loyalty with Ephraim’s perfidy, and we see no reason to do so.

Word Bible Commentary

The text of v 1b is probably corrupt. MT רד is uncertain as to meaning, though it appears in some contexts to mean “roam” or the like. “Unruly” is a conjecture.

JPS Bible Commentary

But Judah stands firm with God The meaning of rad (“stands firm” [NJPS]; cf. Targum and Rashi) is puzzling. If a positive meaning is conveyed, it contradicts verse 3—unless “Judah” there refers to the patriarch, not the region.4 Others interpret rad in terms of rebellion (Ibn Ezra), and even consider verses 1 and 3 to reflect later Judean glosses. Given Hosea’s overall focus and the specific concern of this prophecy, one would have expected judgment only against the north (Ephraim/House of Israel in v. 1; Israel [instead of MT: Judah]/Jacob in v. 3).5 The present text is difficult.