And rebelled against My law.
2b Israel will cry to Me,
‘My God, cwe know You!’
3Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4“Theyd set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold
They made idols for themselves—
That they might be cut off.
5Your 2calf 3is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
e How long until they attain to innocence?
6For from Israel is even this:
A fworkman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
7“Theyg sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
h Aliens would swallow it up.
8i Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
j Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like ka wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim lhas hired lovers.
10Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now mI will gather them;
And they shall 4sorrow a little,
Because of the 5burden of nthe king of princes.
11“Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
12I have written for him othe great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
13For the sacrifices of My offerings pthey sacrifice flesh and eat it,
q But the LORD does not accept them.
r Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.
14“Fors Israel has forgotten this Maker,
And has built 6temples;
Judah also has multiplied ufortified cities;
But vI will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his 7palaces.”
Hosea 9
Judgment of Israel’s Sin
1Doa not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,
For you have played the harlot against your God.
You have made love for bhire on every threshing floor.
2The threshing floor and the winepress
Shall not feed them,
And the new wine shall fail in her.
3They shall not dwell in cthe LORD’s land,
d But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And eshall eat unclean things in Assyria.
4They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD,
Nor fshall their gsacrifices be pleasing to Him.
It shall be like bread of mourners to them;
All who eat it shall be defiled.
For their bread shall be for their own life;
It shall not come into the house of the LORD.
5What will you do in the appointed day,
And in the day of the feast of the LORD?
6For indeed they are gone because of destruction.
Egypt shall gather them up;
Memphis shall bury them.
h Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver;
Thorns shall be in their tents.
7The idays of punishment have come;
The days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a jfool,
k The spiritual man is insane,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.
8The lwatchman of Ephraim is with my God;
But the prophet is a 1fowler’s snare in all his ways—
Enmity in the house of his God.
9m They are deeply corrupted,
As in the days of nGibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.
10“I found Israel
Like grapes in the owilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the pfirstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to qBaal Peor,
And 2separated themselves to that shame;
r They became an abomination like the thing they loved.
11As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
12Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them to the last man.
Yes, swoe to them when I depart from them!
13Just tas I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,
So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.”
14Give them, O LORD—
What will You give?
Give them ua miscarrying womb
And dry breasts!
15“All their wickedness is in vGilgal,
For there I hated them.
Because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them from My house;
I will love them no more.
w All their princes are rebellious.
16Ephraim is xstricken,
Their root is dried up;
They shall bear no fruit.
Yes, were they to bear children,
I would kill the darlings of their womb.”
17My God will ycast them away,
Because they did not obey Him;
And they shall be zwanderers among the nations.
Hosea 10
Israel’s Sin and Captivity
1Israel aempties his vine;
He brings forth fruit for himself.
According to the multitude of his fruit
b He has increased the altars;
According to the bounty of his land
They have embellished his sacred pillars.
2Their heart is cdivided;1
Now they are held guilty.
He will break down their altars;
He will ruin their sacred pillars.
3For now they say,
“We have no king,
Because we did not fear the LORD.
And as for a king, what would he do for us?”
4They have spoken words,
Swearing falsely in making a covenant.
Thus judgment springs up dlike hemlock in the furrows of the field.
5The inhabitants of Samaria fear
Because of the ecalf2 of Beth Aven.
For its people mourn for it,
And 3its priests shriek for it—
Because its fglory has departed from it.
6The idol also shall be carried to Assyria
As a present for King gJareb.
Ephraim shall receive shame,
And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7As for Samaria, her king is cut off
Like a twig on the water.
8Also the hhigh places of 4Aven, ithe sin of Israel,
Shall be destroyed.
The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;
j They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
And to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9“O Israel, you have sinned from the days of kGibeah;
There they stood.
The lbattle in Gibeah against the children of 5iniquity
Did not 6overtake them.
10When it is My desire, I will chasten them.
m Peoples shall be gathered against them
When I bind them 7for their two transgressions.
11Ephraim is na trained heifer
That loves to thresh grain;
But I harnessed her fair neck,
I will make Ephraim 8pull a plow.
Judah shall plow;
Jacob shall break his clods.”
12Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
o Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the LORD,
Till He pcomes and rains righteousness on you.
13q You have plowed wickedness;
You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
Because you trusted in your own way,
In the multitude of your mighty men.
14Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,
And all your fortresses shall be plundered
As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—
A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.
15Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
Because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
Shall be cut off utterly.
Hosea 11
God’s Continuing Love for Israel
1“When Israel was a 1child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt aI called My bson.
22 As they called them,
So they cwent 3from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.
3“Id taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by 4their arms;
But they did not know that eI healed them.
4I drew them with 5gentle cords,
With bands of love,
And fI was to them as those who take the yoke from their 6neck.
g I stooped and fed them.
5“He shall not return to the land of Egypt;
But the Assyrian shall be his king,
Because they refused to repent.
6And the sword shall slash in his cities,
Devour his districts,
And consume them,
Because of their own counsels.
7My people are bent on hbacksliding from Me.
Though 7they call 8to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.
8“Howi can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like jAdmah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart 9churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.
9I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
k For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not 10come with terror.
10“They shall walk after the LORD.
l He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;
11They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,
m Like a dove from the land of Assyria.
n And I will let them dwell in their houses,”
Says the LORD.
God’s Charge Against Ephraim
12“ Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,
And the house of Israel with deceit;
But Judah still walks with God,
Even with the 11Holy One who is faithful.
Hosea 12
Ephraim’s Sins Rebuked by God
1“Ephraim afeeds on the wind,
And pursues the east wind;
He daily increases lies and 1desolation.
b Also they make a 2covenant with the Assyrians,
And coil is carried to Egypt.
2“Thed LORD also brings a 3charge against Judah,
And will punish Jacob according to his ways;
According to his deeds He will recompense him.
3He took his brother eby the heel in the womb,
And in his strength he fstruggled with God.
4Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
He wept, and sought favor from Him.
He found Him in gBethel,
And there He spoke to us—
5That is, the LORD God of hosts.
The LORD is His hmemorable name.
6i So you, by the help of your God, return;
Observe mercy and justice,
And wait on your God continually.
7“A cunning 4Canaanite!
j Deceitful scales are in his hand;
He loves to oppress.
8And Ephraim said,
k‘Surely I have become rich,
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors
They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’
9“But I am the LORD your God,
Ever since the land of Egypt;
l I will again make you dwell in tents,
As in the days of the appointed feast.
10m I have also spoken by the prophets,
And have multiplied visions;
I have given 5symbols 6through the witness of the prophets.”
11Though nGilead has idols—
Surely they are 7vanity—
Though they sacrifice bulls in oGilgal,
Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.
12Jacob pfled to the country of Syria;
q Israel served for a spouse,
And for a wife he tended sheep.
13r By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt,
And by a prophet he was preserved.
14Ephraim sprovoked Him to anger most bitterly;
Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,
t And return his reproach upon him.
Hosea 13
Relentless Judgment on Israel
1When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
2Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let 1the men who sacrifice 2kiss the calves!”
3Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
a Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.
4“Yet bI am the LORD your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For cthere is no savior besides Me.
5d I 3knew you in the wilderness,
e In the land of 4great drought.
6f When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.
7“So gI will be to them like a lion;
Like ha leopard by the road I will lurk;
8I will meet them ilike a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The 5wild beast shall tear them.
9“O Israel, 6you are destroyed,
But 7your help is from Me.
108 I will be your King;
j Where is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom kyou said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
11l I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.
12“Them iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
13n The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son,
For he should not stay long where children are born.
14“I will ransom them from the 9power of 10the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
o O Death, 11I will be your plagues!
O 12Grave, 13I will be your destruction!
p Pity is hidden from My eyes.”
15Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
q An east wind shall c
ome;
The wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness.
Then his spring shall become dry,
And his fountain shall be dried up.
He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.
16Samaria 14is held guilty,
For she has rrebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child sripped open.
Hosea 14
Israel Restored at Last
1O Israel, areturn to the LORD your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
2Take words with you,
And return to the LORD.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the bsacrifices1 of our lips.
3Assyria shall cnot save us,
d We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands,
‘ You are our gods.’
e For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”
4“I will heal their fbacksliding,
I will glove them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
5I will be like the hdew to Israel;
He shall 2grow like the lily,
And 3lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
6His branches shall 4spread;
i His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And jhis fragrance like Lebanon.
7k Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And 5grow like a vine.
Their 6scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8“ Ephraim shall say,
‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’
I have heard and observed him.
I am like a green cypress tree;
l Your fruit is found in Me.”
9Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For mthe ways of the LORD are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.
Hosea Commentaries
Hosea 1
1:1 The word of the LORD. Cf. 6:5. This kind of introduction, expressing the prophet’s divine authority and message source, appears also in Joel 1:1; Mic. 1:1; Zeph. 1:1; Zech. 1:1; Mal. 1:1. Similar statements appear in Amos 1:3; Obad. 1; Jon. 1:1; Hag. 1:2.
1:2 wife of harlotry. See Introduction: Interpretive Challenges. children of harlotry. This points to the future unfaithfulness of their mother. The children were possibly not fathered by Hosea. That Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was to depict God’s marriage to Israel is clearly set forth and becomes the key to the theme of the book.
1:4 Jezreel. Meaning “God will scatter” (cf. Zech. 10:9), the name is given to the child so named, as a prediction of judgment (cf. 2 Kin. 9:7—10:28). I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel. It was at the city of Jezreel where Jehu slaughtered the house of Ahab (cf. 2 Kin. 9:7—10:28). bring an end. Looks forward to the exile of Israel to Assyria in 722 B.C., from which she never returned.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 415
