The mysterious Hebrew word םיקרשׂ in Zechariah 1:8

Standard Bible, Amplified Bible, American Standard Version, New King James Version, English Standard Version) or speckled (King James Bible, Douay-Rheims Bible). To solve these problems, this research uses a textual criticism as its methodology (cf. Barthélemy 2012). Therefore, this article argues that םיקרשׂ is a distinct and different colour than Zechariah 6:2–3 and 6:6–7 and the colour of םיקרשׂ is reddish brown. In addition, the summary of previous research of the Hebrew word םיקרשׂ is discussed and analysed briefly in this article. The Hebrew word םיקרשׂ in Zechariah 1:8 is a mysterious word. The disappearance of the Hebrew word םיקרשׂ in Zechariah 1:8 from the rest of the Book of Zechariah and the unknown meaning of םיקרשׂ itself are the reasons for this mystery. Zechariah 1:8 does not only abandon two colours: the black horses and the spotted (dappled) horses but also this verse adds םיקרשׂ or the sorrel ones, which are not recorded in Zechariah 6:2–3 and 6:6–7. The appearance of םיקרשׂ in Zechariah 1:8, therefore, creates disagreement colours with Zechariah 6:2–3 and 6:6–7. In addition, Gelston states that the Hebrew word םיקרשׂ is probably unknown to the ancient translators. This unknown meaning causes different translations of םיקרשׂ in ancient texts. This article, thus, attempts to unveil this mystery with textual criticism as its methodology. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This research emphasises on the importance of textual criticism to unveil the unknown meaning of םיק in Zechariah 1:8.


Introduction
As the problematic Hebrew word ‫ׂשרקים‬ appears only once in the book of Zechariah (1:8), then it raises two problems. The first problem is the disharmonious colours between the colours of the horses in Zechariah 1:8 with Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7. The Hebrew text of Zechariah 1:8 has three colours: ‫,אדמים‬ ‫,ׂשרקים‬ ‫,לבנים‬ or the red ones, the sorrel ones and the white ones. Zechariah 6:2-3 has four colours: ‫,אדמים‬ ‫,ׁשחרים‬ ‫,לבנים‬ ‫,רדים‬ or the red ones, the black ones, the white ones and the spotted (dappled) ones. Zechariah 6:6-7, on the other hand, has three colours again: ‫,הׁשחרים‬ ‫,הלבנים‬ ‫הברדים‬ or the black ones, the white ones and the spotted (dappled) ones. Based on Zechariah 6:2-3, then Zechariah 1:8 is missing the colour of the black horses and the spotted (dappled) horses. Based on Zechariah 6:6-7, Zechariah 1:8 also lacks the black horses and the spotted (dappled) horses. Interestingly, Zechariah 1:8 adds one more colour that is not recorded in both Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7: ‫ׂשרקים‬ or the sorrel ones. In summary, Zechariah 1:8 is not only missing the black horses and the spotted (dappled) horses (cf. Zch 6:2-3 and 6:6-7), but also adding ‫ׂשרקים‬ or the sorrel ones that are foreign to Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7 (cf. Chia 2022a,b). The second problem is stated by Gelston in Biblia Hebraica Quinta or BHQ. Gelston argues that the Hebrew word ‫ׂשרקים‬ is probably unknown to the ancient translators (Gelston 2010:134 To solve these problems, this research uses a textual criticism as its methodology (cf. Barthélemy 2012). Therefore, this article argues that ‫ׂשרקים‬ is a distinct and different colour than Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7 and the colour of ‫ׂשרקים‬ is reddish brown. In addition, the summary of previous research of the Hebrew word ‫ׂשרקים‬ is discussed and analysed briefly in this article.
Although this emendation is plausible, this proposal does not answer why the Hebrew text has ‫ׂשרקים‬ or the sorrel ones at the first place. In other words, the difficult reading is more likely the original text because the translators tend to facilitate the problematic words, grammar and syntax (Barthélemy 2012:90;cf. Chia 2021a,b:1-4). In addition, this comparison method -between Zechariah 1:8 with Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7 -does not offer a solution because this comparison does not address the missing dappled horses in Zechariah 1:8.
This insertion, nevertheless, faces some challenges because it is based on the comparison method. This comparison does not provide an answer on why Zechariah 1:8 adds ‫ׂשרקים‬ or the sorrel ones in comparison to Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7. Also, this proposal also does not address the missing of the spotted (dappled) horses in Zechariah 1:8.

Third proposal: ‫ׂשרקים‬ corresponds to ‫ברדים‬
The third proposal comes from McComiskey. He argues that ‫ׂשרקים‬ corresponds to ‫ברדים‬ (McComiskey 1992:1035). The basis of his argumentation is the list of horses in Zechariah 6:1-8 that share similar colours to Zechariah 1:8.
Although this comparison harmonises the three colours (red, the dappled and white), this comparison method again fails to bring an answer to the missing of the black horses in Zechariah 1:8. Furthermore, the dappled one is a translation of the Hebrew word ‫ברדים‬ (cf. 6:3 and 6:7). Klein also opposes this proposal. He sees that the Hebrew lexica -BDB, HALOT and Holladay -do not support the reading of 'dappled' horses (Klein 2008:139).

Fourth proposal: Ancient translations
This proposal will weigh on available manuscripts on ‫םיקרׂש‬ or the sorrel ones in Zechariah 1:8. The first witness is coming from Aquila. In Hexapla, Origen records Aquila's Greek translation in manuscript 86: ξανθοί or bay or chestnut mares (ed. Field 1875:1021). The notable characteristic is his literal translation or his fidelity to the source language. He usually translates a Hebrew word for the same Greek equivalent that sometimes leads to inappropriate translation to the context. Jobes and Silva (2000:39) describe that Aquila's translation represents a Hebrew vocabulary in the most consistent fashion, even at the cost of acceptable Greek. His extreme literalness is also revealed in the unusualness of Greek grammar and syntax (Dines & Knibb 2004:88). Another feature of Aquila's translation is his Greek translation based on an eye on etymology (Natalio 2000:116). In other words, Aquila's translation is a representation of a faithful translation to the source language. In short, Jobes and Silva (2000:29) picture Aquila as a Jewish proselyte who attempted to represent every detail of the Hebrew text consistently.
This translation, therefore, follows the Hebrew text ‫ׂשרקים‬ or the sorrel ones.
Although the LXX's translation (Thompson 1999) does not explain the missing of the black horses in 1:8, the mystery of the combination of two colours ποικίλοι ψαροί as one kind of horses in 6:3, and the missing of the red horses in 6:6-7, the focus of this article is ‫ׂשרקים‬ or the sorrel ones. The LXX has two kinds of colour to translate ‫:ׂשרקים‬ καὶ ψαροὶ καὶ ποικίλοι. While Chia argues that to translate faithfully and consistently the colours of all horses according to the Hebrew text is the motivation of the LXX's translator (6:2-3 and 6:6-7; Chia 2022a,b:1-5), this argumentation does not apply to Zechariah 1:8, because LXX uses two colours to translate ‫.ׂשרקים‬ BHS' apparatus rightly states that the occurrence of ψαροί equals ‫אמצים‬ in Zechariah 6:3 and 6:7 (BHS 1997:1064). Both Zechariah 6:3 and 6:6-7 translate ‫ברדים‬ and ‫אמצים‬ as ποικίλοι and ψαροί respectively (cf. Barthélémy 1992: 936). Thus, these facts -LXX reserves ‫ברדים‬ for ποικίλοι and ‫אמצים‬ for ψαροί in 6:3 and 6:6-7, but the LXX uses both καὶ ψαροὶ καὶ ποικίλοι for ‫ׂשרקים‬ -communicate that the meaning of ‫ׂשרקים‬ is unknown to the LXX's translator (cf. Gelston 2010:134).
The Latin Vulgate (Weber & Gryson 2006) and the Syriac Peshitta (Gelston 1987)  The Aramaic Targum (the comprehensive Aramaic lexicon) translates ‫ׂשרקים‬ into three possible translations: ‫חתינ‬ ‫,קחחינ,‬ or ‫קוחין‬ in Zechariah 1:8. However, the most common translation is ‫.קוחין‬ A dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period states that ‫קוחין‬ is a corruption of ‫קרוח‬ or spotted one (Sokoloff 2002:503b). The Aramaic Targum translates ‫ברדים‬ as ‫פציחין‬ in Zechariah 6:3 and 6:6, while it has ‫קטמנין‬ for ‫.אמצים‬ In other words, the Aramaic Targum has its own term to render each Hebrew word.
Although the discussion of ancient texts is insightful (cf. Chia 2021a,b), these different variants are rather complicated because of there is no harmonisation. Aquila's Greek translation renders ‫ׂשרקים‬ as ξανθοί. While LXX uses two Greek adjectives [καὶ ψαροὶ καὶ ποικίλοι] to translate one Hebrew word ‫,ׂשרקים‬ the Latin Vulgate has one adjective [varii or various ones] for two Hebrew words ‫ׂשרקים‬ and ‫.ברדים‬ The Syriac Peshitta and the Aramaic Targum, on the other hand, have their own rendering of ‫ܤܟܝܐ‬ ܵ ‫ܦܝ‬ ‫ׂשרקים:‬ and ‫קוחין,‬ respectively. Therefore, Barthélémy (1992:936) rightly concludes that as the ancient translators have trouble understanding the Hebrew word ‫,ׂשרקים‬ then they read the other versions and compare Zechariah 1:8 with 6:2-3 and 6:6-7 to seek solutions.

Fifth proposal: ‫ׂשרקים‬ should be unveiled within Semitic languages
This article proposes the fifth proposal. This research rejects the comparison method between Zechariah 1:8 with Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7 because it fails to bring a consistent solution throughout the book. The first proposal, for instance, solves the problematic Hebrew word ‫ׂשרקים‬ with ‫,ׁשחרים‬ but it does not provide an answer to the missing dappled horses in Zechariah 1:8. The second proposal inserts ‫ׁשחרים‬ after ‫ׂשרקים‬ in Zechariah 1:8, but again this proposal also does not address the missing of the dappled horses and the addition of ‫ׁשחרים‬ in Zechariah 1:8. The third proposal uses the comparison method to correspond ‫ׂשרקים‬ to ‫.ברדים‬ This proposal, however, also fails to address the missing of black horses in Zechariah 1:8. Therefore, this article finds that the comparison method is not a plausible solution.
Although this article rejects the comparison solution between Zechariah 1:8 with Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7, this research sees that the comparison among the Semitic texts is fruitful. The Syriac Peshitta and Aramaic Targum shed a light on the mystery of ‫ׂשרקים‬ because both texts employ their own terms to render ‫:ׂשרקים‬ ‫ܵܤܟܝܐ‬ ‫ܦܝ‬ and ‫,קוחין‬ respectively. The non-Semitic language texts (the LXX and the Latin Vulgate), on the other hand, demonstrate the difficulty of translating ‫.ׂשרקים‬ This difficulty could be caused by the unknown meaning of ‫ׂשרקים‬ among the ancient translators (Gelston 2010:134;cf. Chia 2022a,b:83-97) or this Hebrew word has no good rendering to the Greek and Latin language. The Syriac Peshitta, the Aramaic Targum and the Masoretic text render ‫ׂשרקים‬ as a different colour of horses than Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7 in contrast to the LXX, the Latin Vulgate, the first and the second solutions proposed by the scholars. Therefore, this research proposes that the most plausible way to unveil the mystery of ‫ׂשרקים‬ is through Semitic languages. The Semitic texts reveal that ‫ׂשרקים‬ is a distinct and different colour than the colours of horses in Zechariah 6:1-8.
The last mystery needs to be solved is what is the colour of ‫?ׂשרקים‬ There are three common colours that are proposed by the modern English Bible: brown, sorrel and speckled. This article proposes the colour of ‫ׂשרקים‬ is reddish brown. This proposal comes from the usage of ‫ׂשרקים‬ in the Hebrew Bible, the cognate languages and the Hebrew lexica. The Hebrew word ‫ׂשרקים‬ occurs three times (or the 60%) in the Hebrew Bible. It is used to describe the colour of grapes (Is 5:2, 16:8; Jr 2:22), while the 20% of it is employed to denote a location. These occurrences suggest the basic colour of ‫ׂשרקים‬ is red. However, as ‫אדמים‬ or red has been used before in Zechariah 1:8, then ‫ׂשרקים‬ must be a different type of red than ‫.אדמים‬ The Semitic languages, Arabic and Ethiopic, connect ‫ׂשרקים‬ with the colour of sunrise or it is more like a golden brown (Boda 2016:139;Brenner 1982:115). The Hebrew Lexica -BDB, HALOT and Holladay -have sorrel colour.

Conclusion
This article rejects the comparison method -between Zechariah 1:8 with Zechariah 6:2-3 and 6:6-7 -to unveil the mysterious Hebrew word of ‫.ׂשרקים‬ The comparison method fails to bring a consistent solution throughout the book of Zechariah. Therefore, this research uses textual criticism especially analysis within Semitic languages to unfold this difficulty. This methodology allows the readers to see that ‫ׂשרקים‬ is a distinct and different colour than the colours of horses in Zechariah 6:1-8, and the colour of ‫ׂשרקים‬ is reddish brown.