King James Version
Hosea 7
16 verses with commentary
Israel's Wickedness Exposed
When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. wickedness: Heb. evils spoileth: Heb. strippeth
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KJV Study Commentary
When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without.' God desires to heal, but Israel's sin prevents it. 'Was discovered' (niglah) means revealed, uncovered - attempts at healing expose deeper corruption. Instead of repentance, exposure reveals more...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) Translate, *When I heal Israel* (referring to a cessation in the attacks of the menacing foe, or to such a thrill of finer feeling as that which is recorded in 2Chronicles 28:8-15), *then is revealed the iniquity of Ephraim and the wickedness of Samaria, that they commit falsehood.* Samaria here sustains the same relation to Israel that Jerusalem does to Judah, and it is the very source of the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 34 Eze 34:1-31. Reproof of the False Shepherds; Promise of the True and Good Shepherd.
Having in the thirty-third chapter laid down repentance as the necessary preliminary to happier times for the people, He now promises the removal of the false shepherds as preparatory to the raising up of the Good Shepherd.
2. Jr 23:1 and Zec 11:17 similarly make the removal of the false shepherds th...
Read full commentary →And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. consider: Heb. say not to
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And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.' Israel doesn't 'consider' (lo-yamru le-levavam) - literally 'they don't say to their hearts.' They fail to internalize that God remembers all sin. 'Their doings have beset them' means their sins surround them - inescapable. 'Before my face' emphasizes Go...
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(2) **Have beset them about.—**The wicked deeds of the nation crowded around them as witnesses to reveal their treason against Jehovah.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. fat--**or, by differently pointing the Hebrew, "milk" [Septuagint]. Thus the repetition "fat" and "fed" is avoided: also the eating of "fat" would not probably be put before the "killing" of the sheep. The eating of sheep's or goats' milk as food (De 32:14; Pr 27:27) was unobjectionable, had not these shepherds milked them too often, and that without duly "feeding" them [Bochart], (Is 56:11)....
Read full commentary →They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
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Entertaining wickedness: 'They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.' Political leaders delight in evil—the king rejoices (שִׂמַּח, simach) in subjects' רָעָה (ra'ah, wickedness/evil), princes in כְּזָבִים (kezavim, lies/deceptions). This inverted moral order—rulers rewarding evil rather than punishing it—guarantees societal collapse. When leaders love lies, tr...
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(3) **Glad.—**The evil awakens no alarm, but rather sympathy and gladness, in the breasts of their kings and rulers, who are ready to follow suit in all deeds of violence.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. The diseased--**rather, those weak from the effects of "disease," as "strengthened" (that is, with due nourishment) requires [Grotius].
**broken--**that is, fractures from wounds inflicted by the wolf.
**brought again ... driven away--**(Ex 23:4). Those "driven away" by the enemy into foreign lands through God's judgments are meant (Jr 23:3). A spiritual reformation of the state by the ru...
Read full commentary →They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. who: or, the raiser will cease raising: or, waking
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KJV Study Commentary
Smoldering conspiracy: 'They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.' The metaphor depicts conspiracy: adultery (spiritual and literal) compared to oven (תַּנּוּר, tannur) heated by baker who stops stoking fire (שֹׁבֵת מֵעִיר, shovet me'ir) after kneading dough, letting it rise. The imagery suggests smolder...
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(4) Render, *ceaseth heating from the kneading of the dough till its leavening.* The baker is unremitting in his exertions to keep up the heat of the oven, the smouldering fire being fed on camel’s dung and the like fuel, except when he is obliged to occupy himself with preparing the dough for baking—an apt image of the incessant burning rage of lust and violence.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. scattered, because ... no shepherd--**that is, none worthy of the name, though there were some called shepherds (1Ki 22:17; Mt 9:36). Compare Mt 26:31, where the sheep were scattered when the true Shepherd was smitten. God calls them "My sheep"; for they were not, as the shepherds treated them, their patrimony whereby to "feed themselves."
**meat to all ... beasts--**They became a prey to t...
Read full commentary →In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners. bottles: or, heat through wine
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Drunken revelry and conspiracy: 'In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.' Royal celebrations become occasions for conspiracy. The king made sick (הֶחֱלוּ מֵחֲמַת, hechelu mechamat—literally 'made sick from heat of') wine, extending hand (מָשַׁךְ יָדוֹ, mashakh yado) with לֹצְצִים (lotsetsim, scorners/mockers). Drunkenness...
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(5) Following the hint of the LXX. and other versions, the rendering of which is based on a slightly different punctuation of the Hebrew, we prefer to translate, *the day of our king the princes have begun with the glowing* (or *fever*)* of wine*—*i.e.,* the carousal of the princely retinue in celebration of the sovereign’s coronation-day (or birthday) commences at an early hour, significant of mo...
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**6. every high hill--**the scene of their idolatries sanctioned by the rulers.
**search ... seek--**rather, "seek ... search." The former is the part of the superior rulers to inquire after: to search out is the duty of the subordinate rulers [Junius].
For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. made: or, applied
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Hearts like ovens: 'For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.' Continuing the oven metaphor: conspirators prepare hearts like ovens (תַּנּוּר, tannur) while lying in wait (אָרַב, arav). The baker (אֹפֶה, ofeh—likely the king or primary conspirator) sleeps all night while heart-oven sm...
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(6) Render, *Yea, they draw nigh together. Like an oven in their heart with their wiles. Their baker sleepeth all the night,* &c. The metaphor of Hosea 7:4 is resumed. The baker, having left his dough to become leavened and his fire to smoulder, can afford to sleep. The baker may mean the evil passion which has been raging. Indeed, Wünsche and Schmoller, by a slight change of punctuation, obtain t...
Read full commentary →They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.
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KJV Study Commentary
Universal corruption: 'They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.' The oven metaphor concludes: all heated like ovens, they 'devour' (אָכַל, akhal—consume, destroy) their שֹׁפְטֵיהֶם (shofteihem, judges/rulers). Result: כָּל־מַלְכֵיהֶם נָפָלוּ (kol-malkeihem nafalu, all their kings have fallen). Most damni...
Read full commentary →Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
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Mixed identity: 'Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.' Two metaphors describe compromised identity. First, בָּלַל (balal, mixed/mingled) among peoples—losing distinctiveness through assimilation. Second, עֻגָה בְלִי הֲפוּכָה (ugah beli hafukhah, cake not turned)—bread cooked one side, raw the other; useless, half-baked. Israel sought to be like nations (po...
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(8) **Cake not turned.—**Referring to the destructive effect of foreign influences. Ephraim was consumed by the unhallowed fire of Baal-worship, with all its passion and sensualism—a cake burnt on one side to a cinder, and on the other left in a condition utterly unfit for food. So the activity of foreign idolatries and foreign alliances, and the consequent unfaithfulness to Israel’s God, are the ...
Read full commentary →Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. here: Heb. sprinkled
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Unrecognized decline: 'Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.' Israel's strength consumed by foreigners (זָרִים, zarim)—tribute payments, territorial losses, cultural influence—yet אֵינֶנּוּ יֹדֵעַ (einennu yodea, he knows not). Similarly, premature aging (gray hairs, שֵׂיבָה, seivah) signals decline, yet awaren...
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(9) **Have devoured.—**The past tense may refer to the invasions of Tiglath-pileser. Both Egypt and Assyria had come to regard Israel as the earthen pipkin between iron pots. These strangers have devoured his strength—*i.e.,* he has less power to resist aggression, less treasure, less land, smaller population. The signs of senility are upon him. “Grey hairs are his passing bell.” He is under sente...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. I will require my flock--**(He 13:17), rather, "I require," &c., for God already had begun to do so, punishing Zedekiah and the other princes severely (Jr 52:10).
And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.
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Pride preventing return: 'And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.' Repeating 5:5, the indictment emphasizes pride (גְּאוֹן יִשְׂרָאֵל, ge'on Yisrael) testifying to face (עָנָה בְפָנָיו, anah befanav)—self-accusatory witness. Despite everything ('for all this,' בְּכָל־זֹאת, bekhol-zot), they neither return (שָׁב, shuv)...
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(10) See Note on Hosea 5:5.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. I ... will ... search--**doing that which the so-called shepherds had failed to do, I being the rightful owner of the flock.
Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
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KJV Study Commentary
God's metaphor for Israel's foolish foreign policy: 'Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.' The Hebrew 'ke-yonah potah en-leb' (like a simple/foolish dove without heart/sense) depicts a bird easily trapped, flitting between predators. Israel vacillated between appealing to Egypt and Assyria for protection (2 Kings 17:4), playing great powers again...
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(11) **Silly dove.**—No creature is less able to defend itself than the dove, which flies from the bird of prey to the net of the fowler. In this powerful metaphor we have a political allusion. King Hoshea is called *Ausih* on the Assyrian monuments. Having usurped the throne after the murder of Pekah, he “purchased his recognition as king of Israel by giving a large present to the Assyrian monarc...
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**12. in the day that he is among--**in the midst of (Hebrew) His sheep that had been scattered. Referring to Messiah's second advent, when He shall be "the glory in the midst of Israel" (Zec 2:5).
**in the cloudy ... day--**the day of the nation's calamity (Joe 2:2).
When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.
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KJV Study Commentary
When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.' God becomes hunter spreading net - Israel trying to escape (through alliances) will be caught. 'Bring them down as fowls' suggests shooting birds from sky - sudden, inescapable capture. 'Chastise as their congregation heard' references cove...
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(12) **When they shall go.—**Best rendered, *Whenever they go,* &c. The ultimate ruin produced by this policy of dependence on foreign states and of doubledealing intrigue was even at this early stage foreseen by the prophet, and portrayed under the simile of Jehovah’s net snaring the unwary bird.
**As their congregation hath heard.—**Should be, *according to the report to their assembly*—*i.e.,* ...
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**13. And I will bring them out from the people, &c.--**(Eze 28:25; 36:24; 37:21, 22; Is 65:9, 10; Jr 23:3).
Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me. destruction: Heb. spoil
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Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.' Double pronouncement: 'woe' and 'destruction' for those who fled from and transgressed against God. The painful irony: 'though I redeemed them' (from Egypt), 'they spoke lies against me' (false teaching about God's characte...
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(13) **Fled.**—The word thus translated is used of the wandering flight of birds, and arises naturally out of the images employed in Hosea 7:11-12.
(13) **Though I have redeemed.—**Should be, *Though I would fain redeem them:* an impressive picture of all the insults to longsuffering Divine love.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. good pasture--**(Psa 23:2).
**high mountains of Israel--**In Eze 17:23; 20:40, the phrase is "the mountain of the height of Israel" in the singular number. The reason for the difference is: there Ezekiel spoke of the central seat of the kingdom, Mount Zion, where the people met for the worship of Jehovah; here he speaks of the kingdom of Israel at large, all the parts of which are regarded...
Read full commentary →And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.
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Crying to God without heart: 'And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and for wine, and they rebel against me.' The contrast: not crying (זָעַק, za'aq) from heart (לֵב, lev) but howling (יְיֵלִילוּ, yeyelilu) on beds. They assemble (יִתְגֹּדָדוּ, yitgodadu—literally 'cut/gash themselves,' possible Baal worship practice) ...
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(14) **Cried . . . Howled—**God discriminates between a heart-cry to Him, and a howl of despair, resembling the yell of a wild beast. A howl upon their bed is not a sob of true repentance.
**They assemble themselves.—**To supplicate Jehovah for fruitful harvests. This rendering is supported by several eminent authorities. Others follow Ewald in translating,” they *excite* themselves” with dervish-...
Read full commentary →Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. have: or, chastened
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Training betrayers: 'Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.' God declares אֲנִי יִסַּרְתִּי חִזַּקְתִּי זְרוֹעוֹתָם (ani yissarti chizaqti zero'otam): 'I disciplined/trained, I strengthened their arms'—yet they devise (יְחַשְּׁבוּ, yechashevu) evil (רָע, ra) against Him. Divine beneficence met with plotting rebellion. This describes supreme ingrat...
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(15) **Bound.**—Should be *instructed.* God has imparted skill and power to fight their enemies. (Comp. Psalm 144:1.) So the grace of the Spirit is often slighted by its recipients.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16. In contrast to the unfaithful shepherds (Eze 34:4). The several duties neglected by them I will faithfully discharge.
**fat ... strong--**that is, those rendered wanton by prosperity (De 32:15; Jr 5:28), who use their strength to oppress the weak. Compare Eze 34:20, "the fat cattle" (Is 10:16). The image is from fat cattle that wax refractory.
**with judgment--**that is, justice and equity...
Read full commentary →They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
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Returning to nothing: 'They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.' They turn (שׁוּב, shuv) but not עַל (al, to/toward) Most High—turning without destination, reform without repentance. The simile: like רְמִיָּה קֶשֶׁת (remiyyah qeshet, deceitful/slack bo...
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(16) **Like a deceitful bow.—**Religious observance has the appearance of a bow with the arrow on the string, apparently aimed at some object, but the string being slack, the aim is diverted.
The “raving insolence of their tongue” may mean the boasts that were made of the friendship of King *Shebaka* of Egypt, who made Israel his tool. In the land of Egypt they would thus become objects of derisio...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. you, ... my flock--**passing from the rulers to the people.
**cattle and cattle--**rather, "sheep and sheep"; Margin, "small cattle," or "flocks of lambs and kids," that is, I judge between one class of citizens and another, so as to award what is right to each. He then defines the class about to be punitively "judged," namely, "the rams and he-goats," or "great he-goats" (compare Is 14:9,...
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