Hosea9
King James Version · Public Domain
1Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.
2The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.
3They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
4They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord.
5What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord?
6For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.
7The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
8The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.
9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
10I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal–peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.
11As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
12Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
13Ephraim, as I saw Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.
14Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.
16Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.
17My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Hosea 9.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The distress to come upon Israel. (1-6). The approach of the day of trouble. (7-10). Judgments on Israel. (11-17).
vv1-6
Israel gave rewards to their idols, in the offerings presented to them. It is common for those who are niggardly in religion, to be prodigal upon their lusts. Those are reckoned as idolaters, who love a reward in the corn-floor better than a reward in the favour of God and in eternal life. They are full of the joy of harvest, and have no disposition to mourn for sin. When we make the world, and the things of it, our idol and our portion, it is just with God to show us our folly, and correct us. None may expect to dwell in the Lord's land, who will not be subject to the Lord's laws, or be influenced by his love. When we enjoy the means of grace, we ought to consider what we shall do, if they should be taken from us. While the pleasures of communion with God are out of the reach of change, the pleasant places purchased with silver, or in which men deposit silver, are liable to be laid in ruins. No famine is so dreadful as that of the soul.
vv7-10
Time had been when the spiritual watchmen of Israel were with the Lord, but now they were like the snare of a fowler to entangle persons to their ruin. The people were become as corrupt as those of Gibeah, Judg. 19; and their crimes should be visited in like manner. At first God had found Israel pleasing to Him, as grapes to the traveller in the wilderness. He saw them with pleasure as the first ripe figs. This shows the delight God took in them; yet they followed after idolatry.
vv11-17
God departs from a people, or from a person, when he withdraws his goodness and mercy from them; and when the Lord is departed, what can the creature do? Even though, for the present, good things seem to remain, yet the blessing is gone if God is gone. Even the children should perish with the parents. The Divine wrath dries up the root, and withers the fruit of all comforts; and the scattered Jews daily warn us to beware, lest we neglect or abuse the gospel. Yet every smiting is not a drying up of the root. It may be that God intends only to smite so that the sap may be turned to the root, that there may be more of root graces, more humility, patience, faith, and self-denial. It is very just that God should bring judgments on those who slight his offered mercy.
Key Words
שָׂמַח: probably to brighten up, i.e. (figuratively) be (causatively, make) blithe or gleesome
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
גִּיל: a revolution (of time, i.e. an age); also joy
עַם: a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock
זָנָה: to commit adultery (usually of the female, and less often of simple fornication, rarely of involuntary ravishment); figuratively, to commit idolatry (the Jewish people being regarded as the spouse of Jehovah)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
אָהַב: to have affection for (sexually or otherwise)
אֶתְנַן: a gift (as the price of harlotry or idolatry)
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
Cross References
Hosea 9Direct historical allusion to the infamous crime and corruption in the days of Gibeah.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct historical allusion to Israel's apostasy at Baal-peor, which Hosea specifically names.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Prophetic parallel of eating defiled, unclean bread among the Gentiles in captivity.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The Mosaic covenant curse threatening a return to Egypt as the ultimate symbol of bondage.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Law defining the 'bread of mourners' as unclean, making participants polluted as Hosea declares.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel imagery of Israel viewing agricultural bounty as a meretricious reward from her idols.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Hosea's later recurrence to the sin of Gibeah as a defining mark of Israel's corruption.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Jeremiah's similar vision of good and bad figs, representing Israel's early favor and subsequent decay.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jeremiah associates idolatrous altars with 'that shameful thing,' matching Hosea's 'separated themselves unto that shame.'
Supported by JFB
Mentions the 'cup of consolation' and mourning bread, illustrating unclean pagan funeral customs.
Supported by JFB
Parallel challenge regarding what the wicked will do in the day of visitation.
Supported by JFB
Lamentations describes false prophets who saw foolish things, echoing Hosea's 'the prophet is a fool.'
Supported by JFB
Pentateuchal imagery of God finding and caring for Israel in a waste howling wilderness.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The name Ephraim means 'fruitful,' contrasting ironically with the judgment of barrenness and depopulation.
Supported by JFB