הודו-יה

מאת: אבנר רמו

In the Book of Ezra we read:
הלוים: בני-ישוע וקדמיאל לבני הודויה, שבעים וארבעה.
“The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy and four” (Ezr 2:40).

Yet when this verse appears in the Book of Nehemiah we find:
הלוים: בני-ישוע לקדמיאל לבני להודוה, שבעים וארבעה.
“The Levites: the children of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the children of Hodeiah, seventy and four” (Neh 7:43).

The name הודויה (hodviyah) of the Book of Ezra was translated by the Greeks as: “Hodouia” but the reading of: הללו-יה: הודו ליהוה כי-טוב - “Hallelujah. O give thanks to YHWH; for He is good” (Ps 106:1) suggests that הודויה (hodviyah) is a mis-divided הודו-יה (hodu-yah) - “thank YHWH.” The parallel name in the Book of Nehemiah: להודוה (lehodvah) - “Hodeiah” which was translated by the Greeks as: “Houdouia” appears as a misspelled הודויה (hodviyah). If this suggestion is correct then here in addition to a superfluous ל (l) letter, we have an erroneous deletion of the letter י (i).

A similar verse is found in the Book of Nehemiah:
ויאמרו הלוים ישוע וקדמיאל בני חשבניה שרביה הודיה, שבניה פתחיה, קומו ברכו את-יהוה אלהיכם,
“Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said: Stand up and bless the LORD your God” (Neh 9:5; see also: Neh 8:7; 10:11, 14, 19).

The Greeks translated some of these הודיה (hodiah) names as “Hodouia” which suggests that they believed that it is a letter-deletion error of הודויה (hodviyah), or of: הודו-יה (hodu-yah) - “thank YHWH.”

Another possibly related verse is also found in the Book of Nehemiah:
והלוים, ישוע בנוי קדמיאל שרביה--יהודה מתניה: על-הידות
“Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving” (Neh 12:8).

However, the comparison between these verses suggests that here יהודה (yehudah) is an order-type error of הודיה (hodiah) - “Hodiah.”