Hosea13
New American Standard
1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, But through Baal he incurred guilt and died.
2And now they sin more and more, And make for themselves cast metal images, Idols skillfully made from their silver, All of them the work of craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the people who sacrifice kiss the calves!”
3Therefore they will be like the morning cloud And like dew which soon disappears, Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor, And like smoke from a chimney.
4Yet I have been the Lord your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me.
5I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.
6As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, And as they became satisfied, their heart became proud; Therefore they forgot Me.
7So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.
8I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs, And I will tear open their chests; I will also devour them there like a lioness, As a wild animal would tear them to pieces.
9It is to your own destruction, Israel, That you are against Me, against your help.
10Where then is your king, That he might save you in all your cities; And your judges, to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?
11I gave you a king in My anger, And took him away in My wrath.
12The guilt of Ephraim is wrapped up; His sin is stored up.
13The pains of childbirth come on him; He is not a wise son, For it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.
14Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? Death, where are your thorns? Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight.
15Though he flourishes among the reeds, An east wind will come, The wind of the Lord coming up from the wilderness; And his fountain will become dry And his spring will dry up; It will plunder his treasury of every precious article.
16Samaria will pay the penalty for her guilt, Because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, Their children will be slaughtered, And their pregnant women will be ripped open.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Hosea 13.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The abuse of God's favour leads to punishment. (1-8). A promise of God's mercy. (9-16).
vv1-8
While Ephraim kept up a holy fear of God, and worshipped Him in that fear, so long he was very considerable. When Ephraim forsook God, and followed idolatry, he sunk. Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves, in token of their adoration of them, affection for them, and obedience to them; but the Lord will not give his glory to another, and therefore all that worship images shall be confounded. No solid, lasting comfort, is to be expected any where but in God. God not only took care of the Israelites in the wilderness, he put them in possession of Canaan, a good land; but worldly prosperity, when it feeds men's pride, makes them forgetful of God. Therefore the Lord would meet them in just vengeance, as the most terrible beast that inhabited their forests. Abused goodness calls for greater severity.
vv9-16
Israel had destroyed himself by his rebellion; but he could not save himself, his help was from the Lord only. This may well be applied to the case of spiritual redemption, from that lost state into which all have fallen by wilful sins. God often gives in displeasure what we sinfully desire. It is the happiness of the saints, that, whether God gives or takes away, all is in love. But it is the misery of the wicked, that, whether God gives or takes away, it is all in wrath, nothing is comfortable. Except sinners repent and believe the gospel, anguish will soon come upon them. The prophecy of the ruin of Israel as a nation, also showed there would be a merciful and powerful interposition of God, to save a remnant of them. Yet this was but a shadow of the ransom of the true Israel, by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He will destroy death and the grave. The Lord would not repent of his purpose and promise. Yet, in the mean time, Israel would be desolated for her sins. Without fruitfulness in good works, springing from the Holy Spirit, all other fruitfulness will be found as empty as the uncertain riches of the world. The wrath of God will wither its branches, its sprigs shall be dried up, it shall come to nothing. Woes, more terrible than any from the most cruel warfare, shall fall on those who rebel against God. From such miseries, and from sin, the cause of them, may the Lord deliver us.
Key Words
אֶפְרַיִם: Ephrajim, a son of Joseph; also the tribe descended from him, and its territory
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
רְתֵת: terror
נָשָׂא: to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relative
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
אָשַׁם: to be guilty; by implication to be punished or perish
בַּעַל: Baal, a Phoenician deity
מוּת: to die (literally or figuratively); causatively, to kill
עַתָּה: at this time, whether adverb, conjunction or expletive
חָטָא: properly, to miss; hence (figuratively and generally) to sin; by inference, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causatively) lead astray, condemn
Cross References
Hosea 13Direct parallel to the practice of kissing the calves as an act of pagan adoration.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Famous apostolic adaptation of the triumphant defiance: 'O death, where is thy sting? O grave...'
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Repetition of the exact imagery of the vanishing morning cloud and early dew.
Supported by JFB
Moses' warning of Jeshurun waxing fat, being filled, and then forsaking God who made him.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The historical request for a king ('Give me a king') which rejected God's direct rule.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
God giving Saul in displeasure and removing him in wrath due to rebellion.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
The fatal spiritual turning point under Ahab when Israel officially offended in Baal.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel declaration of God's identity as Yahweh from the land of Egypt.
Supported by JFB
God knowing and leading Israel through the great and terrible wilderness of drought.
Supported by JFB
Sin described as laid up in store and sealed up among God's treasures.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The motif of transgression being sealed up in a bag, safely preserved for reckoning.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The east wind drying up the fruit and fountains, representing the destructive Assyrian invasion.
Supported by JFB
Literal, horrific historical fulfillment of women with child being ripped up by conquerors.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The cultural practice of kissing a deity as a sign of absolute allegiance.
Supported by JFB
Job's denial of throwing a kiss with the hand to pagan celestial bodies.
Supported by JFB
Direct echo of the opening of the Decalogue establishing God's exclusive claim.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Moses' specific warning that being full in the land would lead to forgetting God.
Supported by JFB
Lamentations' parallel comparison of God's sudden judgment to a waiting bear and lion.
Supported by JFB
Proverbial danger of meeting a fierce she-bear robbed of her whelps.
Supported by JFB
Samuel declaring that requesting a earthly king was a rejection of God as savior.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Contrast between Ephraim's name ('fruitful') and his impending spiritual and physical dryness.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Chaff driven away by the wind representing the utter dissolution of pagan kingdoms.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Earlier Hosian warning of God acting as a fierce lion to tear Ephraim.
Supported by JFB
Verbal echo highlighting how self-willed sin destroys one's own soul.
Supported by JFB