בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֲשֶׁר אנו [אֲנַחְנוּ] שֹׁלְחִים אֹתְךָ אֵלָיו נִשְׁמָע לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יִיטַב

[amirsherman]

Shalom everyone,

Jer. xlii. 6:
אִם טוֹב וְאִם רָע בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֲשֶׁר אנו [אֲנַחְנוּ] שֹׁלְחִים אֹתְךָ אֵלָיו נִשְׁמָע לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יִיטַב לָנוּ כִּי נִשְׁמַע בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ.

Translation:

Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

Why is the word אֲשֶׁר inserted and why is the word אנו without vowels? How is it pronounced elsewhere in the Bible?

Thank you in advance

 

[shalom00]

The text has אנו written in it, but there is a tradition that it is to be read as אנחנו.
This is what is called כתיב and קרי.
To denote that אנו is not to be read as written, the vowels are not printed.
The commentator called Radak writes that אנו is not found elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures.

 

[radagasty]

אִם טוֹב וְאִם רָע בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֲשֶׁר אנו [אֲנַחְנוּ] שֹׁלְחִים אֹתְךָ אֵלָיו נִשְׁמָע
Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee;

Why is the word אֲשֶׁר inserted?

Here, אֲשֶׁר represents the relative pronoun whom, subsequently resumed by the pronominal suffix of אֵלָיו.

 

[Ali Smith]

The second one seems to be superfluous though:

אִם־ט֣וֹב וְאִם־רָ֔ע בְּק֣וֹל ׀ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֗ינוּ אֲשֶׁ֨ר אנו אֲנַ֜חְנוּ שֹׁלְחִ֥ים אֹתְךָ֛ אֵלָ֖יו נִשְׁמָ֑ע לְמַ֙עַן֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִֽיטַב־לָ֔נוּ כִּ֣י נִשְׁמַ֔ע בְּק֖וֹל יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ׃
(ירמיהו מב ו)

The sentence would have meant the same thing without it: נִשְׁמָ֑ע לְמַ֙עַן֙ יִֽיטַב־לָ֔נוּ כִּ֣י נִשְׁמַ֔ע בְּק֖וֹל יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ׃

 

[radagasty]

Yes, but לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר is often used together, with the same meaning, and who are we to say that אֲשֶׁר is superfluous? Cf. English ‘so that’ introducing a final or consecutive clause, where ‘so’ or ‘that’ alone would suffice, but it couldn’t be said that the other word was superfluous if the author chose to use both.