but they wail upon their beds;
they gash themselves for grain and wine;
they rebel against me.
15It was I who trained and strengthened their arms,
yet they plot evil against me.
16They turn to that which does not profit;d
they have become like a defective bow;
their officials shall fall by the sword
because of the rage of their tongue.
So much for their babbling in the land of Egypt.
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a Gk Syr: Heb brought near
b Or humbles
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
d Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
7.1 Samaria, capital of the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim).
7.3–7 The passions behind political intriguing in Israel are as constant as an oven fire, banked (v. 6) as the dough is prepared for baking (v. 4).
7.3 King, possibly Hoshea, who gained the throne through treachery (2 Kings 15.30).
7.4 Adulterers, politically treasonous evildoers.
7.5 The day of our king, the time of the coronation festival.
7.7 Israel saw four royal murders within just twelve years (ca. 745–732 bce); see 2 Kings 15.8–10, 13–14, 23–25, 30.7.8–12 Israel allies itself with other nations, violating its covenantal oath of sole allegiance to the Lord.
7.8 The metaphor of a cake made up of foreign ingredients and half baked.
7.9 Foreigners, Egypt and Assyria (see v. 11), between whom Israel alternates in seeking a protecting ally (2 Kings 15.19–20; 17.3–4).
7.10 Cf. 5.5. Return. See note on 2.6–7.
7.11 Silly dove, allowing itself to be easily snared.
7.13 The Lord is frustrated in his desire to redeem, i.e., rescue or reclaim, the people (also 13.14; cf. Ps 78.42, a psalm of Asaph;Mic 6.4; Deut 7.8).
7.14 Wailing and self-mutilation (cf. Deut 14.1; 1 Kings 18.28) treat the Lord like a Canaanite god.
7.16 Turning to useless allies treats the Lord as a god who cannot save. The metaphor of a defective bow is also found in the psalms of Asaph (Ps 78.57).
HOSEA 8
Israel’s Apostasy
1Set the trumpet to your lips!
One like a vulturea is over the house of the LORD,
because they have broken my covenant,
and transgressed my law.
2Israel cries to me,
“My God, we—Israel—know you!”
3Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy shall pursue him.
4They made kings, but not through me;
they set up princes, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold they made idols
for their own destruction.
5Your calf is rejected, O Samaria.
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?
6For it is from Israel,
an artisan made it;
it is not God.
The calf of Samaria
shall be broken to pieces.b
7For they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads,
it shall yield no meal;
if it were to yield,
foreigners would devour it.
8Israel is swallowed up;
now they are among the nations
as a useless vessel.
9For they have gone up to Assyria,
a wild ass wandering alone;
Ephraim has bargained for lovers.
10Though they bargain with the nations,
I will now gather them up.
They shall soon writhe
under the burden of kings and princes.
11When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sin,
they became to him altars for sinning.
12Though I write for him the multitude of my instructions,
they are regarded as a strange thing.
13Though they offer choice sacrifices,c
though they eat flesh,
the LORD does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity,
and punish their sins;
they shall return to Egypt.
14Israel has forgotten his Maker,
and built palaces;
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
but I will send a fire upon his cities,
and it shall devour his strongholds.
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a Meaning of Heb uncertain
b Or shall go up in flames
c Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
8.1–14 Israel has broken the covenant (vv. 1–3): through the monarchy’s policies (vv. 4–7), through its foreign relations (vv. 8–10), and through its hypocritical rites (vv. 11–13).
8.1 Vulture, Assyria. House of the Lord, the whole land of Israel (cf. 9.15). Broken my covenant, a distinctive idiom (cf. Deut 17.2; Josh 23.16; Judg 2.20; 2 Kings 18.12). The word pair covenant and law (i.e., covenantal stipulations) is paralleled in the psalms of Asaph (Ps 78.10). On Hosea’s stress on these concepts, see notes on 4.6; 6.7.
8.3 The good, the covenant’s “good” legal standards (cf. Mic 6.8; 1 Sam 12.23).
8.4 On kings and princes (representatives of Israel’s new centralized polity), see note on 3.4. Hosea held that God must be involved in appointing Israel’s leaders (see Deut 17.15, “God will choose”).
8.5–6 Hosea observes that Israel’s monarchy is bound up with idolatry (cf. 1 Sam 8.7–8). Calf of Samaria, the golden bull that Jeroboam I placed in Bethel (10.5; 1 Kings 12.26–33). Samaria, the monarchical capital, is the sponsor of the image (cf. Am 7.13).
8.6 Hosea does not agree that the bull image was a mere divine pedestal. His declaration, it is not God, counters actual worship of the bull (as shown in 1 Kings 12.28; cf. Ex 32.4, 8, E). In 13.2, Hosea calls the image an idol (cf. 10.6). Among similar finds, a bull-calf statuette, dating to ca. 1600 BCE and probably representing Baal, has been recovered from a small temple at Ashkelon. Cross-culturally, the bull is a symbol of virility, the roaring thundercloud, and fertility.
8.7 A covenantal “futility curse” as in 4.10 (cf. Mic 6.15; Deut 28.38). Sow the wind. Cf. 12.1.
8.9 Wild ass, figurative of willfulness and lust (cf. Jer 2.24). Bargained for lovers, made frantic deals with Syria, Egypt, and Assyria (e.g., 2 Kings 15.19; 17.3).
8.12 Multitude of my instructions, requirements of the covenant (cf. 4.6; 8.1).
8.13 Remember their iniquity. Cf. Ps 79.8, a psalm of Asaph. A return to Egypt (cf. 9.3, 6; 11.5, 11) would reverse the Lord’s historical way with Israel (cf. Ex 13.17, E; Deut 17.16).
HOSEA 9
Punishment for Israel’s Sin
1Do not rejoice, O Israel!
Do not exulta as other nations do;
for you have played the whore, departing from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s pay
on all threshing floors.
2Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail them.
3They shall not remain in the land of the LORD;
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they shall eat unclean food.
4They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD,
and their sacrifices shall not please him.
Such sacrifices shall be like mourners’ bread;
all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
it shall not come to the house of the LORD.
5What will you do on the day of appointed festival,
and on the day of the festival of the LORD?
6For even if they escape destruction,
Egypt shall gather them,
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;b
thorns shall be in their tents.
7The days of punishment have come,
the days of recompense have come;
Israel cries,c
“The prophet is a fool,
the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because of your great iniquity,
your hostility is great.
8The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephrim,
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
and hostility in the house of his God.
9They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah;
he will remember their iniquity,
he will punish their sins.
10Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
in its first season,
I saw your ancestors.
But they came to Baal-peor,
and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame,
and became detestable like the thing they loved.
11Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them until no one is left.
Woe to them indeed
when I depart from them!
13Once I saw Ephraim as a young palm planted in a lovely meadow,d
but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.
14Give them, O LORD—
what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal;
there I came to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their officials are rebels.
16Ephraim is stricken,
their root is dried up,
they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.
17Because they have not listened to him,
my God will reject them;
they shall become wanderers among the nations.
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a Gk: Heb To exultation
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Cn Compare Gk: Heb shall know
d Meaning of Heb uncertain
9.1–9 Hosea condemns a harvest festival (vv. 1–6) and finds himself denounced (vv. 7–9).
9.1 Festival pilgrims (see v. 5) encamp and celebrate near threshing floors, venues exuding fertility and sexuality (cf. Ruth 3.14). The harvest is prostitute’s pay (cf. 2.12; Mic 1.7; Deut 23.18), because Israel takes it as the gift of Baal in return for her service.
9.3 Hosea’s expression land of the LORD makes plain that Yahweh alone is the owner of the land and the one who determines the people’s tenancy (cf. 8.1; 9.15; Ps 78.54, a psalm of Asaph; Ex 32.13, E).
9.4 In exile, there is no produce of God’s land for sacrifices. Mourners’ bread. See Deut 26.14.
9.5 A sarcastic, rhetorical question. Festival of the LORD, the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth).
9.6 Memphis, an Egyptian city with mortuary associations. Nettles and thorns. Cf. Mic 3.12. Tents, pilgrims’ camps.
9.7 Hosea reports the taunt of his opposition (cf. Jer 20.7–8; 29.26; 2 Kings 2.23; 9.11).
9.8 Sentinel. Cf. Jer 6.17; Ezek 3.17. The house of his God, either the whole land (cf. 8.1) or a formerly holy shrine (cf. 9.4) where Levites like Hosea are no longer welcome (see 1 Kings 12.31).
9.9 The days of Gibeah (cf. 10.9) probably refers to the ancient atrocity perpetrated against a Levite’s concubine and recorded in Judg 19–21. Remember their iniquity. Cf. 8.13; Ps 79.8.
9.10–17 The guilt of Baal-peor and Gilgal still marks the present.
9.10 At Baal-peor, the last station of its wilderness journey, Israel embraced Baal (Num 25.1–5). Thing of shame (Hebrew boshet), a derogatory name for Baal (cf. Jer 11.13).
9.15 Kingship for Israel was inaugurated at Gilgal (1 Sam 11.14–15); Israel’s kings were responsible for religious apostasy and political instability. Out of my house, out of God’s manor land (cf. 8.1), where tenancy is conditional based on covenant faithfulness (cf. 9.3, 17; Mic 4.10).
HOSEA 10
Israel’s Sin and Captivity
1Israel is a luxuriant vine
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased
the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
he improved his pillars.
2Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
The LORDa will break down their altars,
and destroy their pillars.
3For now they will say:
“We have no king,
for we do not fear the LORD,
and a king—what could he do for us?”
4They utter mere words;
with empty oaths they make covenants;
so litigation springs up like poisonous weeds
in the furrows of the field.
5The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
for the calfb of Beth-aven.
Its people shall mourn for it,
and its idolatrous priests shall wailc
over it, over its glory that has departed from it.
6The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
as tribute to the great king.d
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.e
7Samaria’s king shall perish
like a chip on the face of the waters.
8The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
on their altars.
They shall say to the mountains, Cover us,
and to the hills, Fall on us.
9Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have continued.
Shall not war overtake them in Gibeah?
10I will comef against the wayward people to punish them;
and nations shall be gathered against them
when they are punishedg for their double iniquity.
11Ephraim was a trained heifer
that loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck;
but I will make Ephraim break the ground;
Judah must plow;
Jacob must harrow for himself.
12Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek the LORD,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
13You have plowed wickedness,
you have reaped injustice,
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your power
and in the multitude of your warriors,
14therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people,
and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle
when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
shall be utterly cut off.
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a Heb he
b Gk Syr: Heb calves
c Cn: Heb exult
d Cn: Heb to a king who will contend
e Cn: Heb counsel
f Cn Compare Gk: Heb In my desire
g Gk: Heb bound
10.1–8 God will sweep away cultic sites (vv. 1–2, 8), golden calf (vv. 5–6), and king (vv. 3–4, 7).
10.1–2 Hosea
’s theology links satiety with apostasy (cf. 4.7;13.6; Deut 6.10–15; 8.12–14). On God’s removal of altars and pillars, see note on 3.4.
10.3 In Hosea’s tradition, kingship is an abortive mistake (cf. 13.11; Judg 8.23; 1 Sam 8.7–8).
10.5 Beth-aven. See note on 4.15. On Samaria’s sponsorship of the calf image there, see note on 8.5–6. The monarchy has replaced Bethel’s Levites with idolatrous priests (Hebrew kemarim).
10.8 High places, sacral installations for ritual sacrifices (cf. Ps 78.58, a psalm of Asaph; 2 Kings 17.9;23.8); the Mesha Stele mentions one in Moab’s capital.
10.9–15 Israel has plowed wickedness.
10.9 Days of Gibeah. See note on 9.9.
10.10 Gibeah is associated with a double iniquity, because, just as its gruesome crime in the village era resulted in large-scale fratricide (Judg 19–21), so also in Hosea’s era fratricide raged in the Syro-Ephraimite war near the same locale (see note on 5.8–6.6).
10.11–13a The metaphor of a heifer (4.16) set to plowing: sow, reap, and break up. Israel must “cultivate” righteousness and steadfast love (see note on 4.1) to receive righteousness as a blessing.
10.14 Shalman, perhaps Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria. His destruction of Beth-arbel is as yet unattested, but 2 Kings 17.3 may provide the general context.
HOSEA 11
God’s Compassion Despite Israel’s Ingratitude
1When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2The more Ia called them,
the more they went from me;b
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols.
3Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in myc arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
4I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.d
I bent down to them and fed them.
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