Why Scripture shifts from plural to singular
Origen opens his commentary by defending the wording of Hosea against readers who think the shift from plural to singular is an error.
Whenever Scripture says things in awkward wording that confuse the reader at the level of the letter, the reader suspects that the passages have not been written correctly, or consistently, or as they actually stand. Some even dare, under pretext of correction, to alter them, changing the sense that lies in passages which seem to have been written consistently. Since the same thing has occurred here, as far as the letter of the passages before us is concerned, we must look at the sense lying in them.
For the prophet first speaks in the plural: "They wept and begged me." Then he makes the next statement in the plural as well: "Being in the house, they found me." But what follows he brings in the singular, saying, "And there it was spoken to him." Anyone who looks only at the bare wording and thinks it was written by error will either write the last part in the plural or change the preceding parts to the singular.
Greek
ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΩΣΕΕ ΕΞΗΓΗΤΙΚΩΝ.
‹13.825› Ἐπειδὴ τὰ σολοικοειδῶς εἰρημένα κατὰ τὴν Γραφὴν ὅσα κατὰ τὴν λέξιν
συγχύνει τὸν ἐντυγχάνοντα, ὡς ὑπονοεῖν οὐκ ὀρθῶς, οὐδὲ ἀκολούθως, οὐδὲ ὡς ἔχει,
γεγράφθαι τὰ ῥητά· ὡς καὶ τολμᾷν τινας, προφάσει διορθώσεως, ἀλλοιοῦν,
μετατιθέντας τὸν ἐγκείμενον περὶ τὰ δοκοῦντα ἀκολούθως γεγράφθαι ῥητὰ νοῦν·
ἀναγκαίως καὶ ἐνθάδε τοῦ ὁμοίου ἐμπεσόντος, ὅσον κατὰ τὴν λέξιν περὶ τὰ
προκείμενα ῥητὰ, ἴδωμεν τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐγκείμενον νοῦν. Πληθυντικῶς γὰρ εἰπὼν,
Ἔκλαυσαν καὶ ἐδεήθησάν μου· καὶ πάλιν πληθυντικῶς τὸ ἑξῆς δηλώσας, Ἐν τῷ
οἴκῳ ὢν, εὗρόν με, τὸ ἑξῆς ἐπὶ ἑνικοῦ ἐπιφέρει, λέγων· Καὶ ἐκεῖ ἐλαλήθη πρὸς
αὐτόν. Τῇ γὰρ λέξει ψιλῇ τις ἐνιδὼν κατὰ πλάνην δοκῶν γεγράφθαι, ἢ καὶ τὸ
τελευταῖον πληθυντικῶς γράψει· ἢ τὰ προά ‹13.828› γοντα εἰς ἑνικὸν μεταθείη.