About Hosea

Hosea's marriage to an unfaithful wife pictures God's persistent love for unfaithful Israel.

Author: HoseaWritten: c. 755-715 BCReading time: ~2 minVerses: 17

UnfaithfulnessCovenant LoveJudgmentRestorationRepentanceKnowledge of God

Places in This Chapter

Assyria(Region)Baal-peor(Mountain)Egypt(Region)Gibeah 1(Settlement)Gilgal 1(Settlement)Memphis(Settlement)Tyre(Settlement)

King James Version

Hosea 9

17 verses with commentary

Punishment for Israel's Sin

1

Rejoice 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 . upon: or, in, etc

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KJV Study Commentary

Rejoice 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.' Israel warned against rejoicing like pagans celebrating harvest. Their harvest festivals dishonored God through attributing provision to Baal and practicing cult prostitution ('loved reward upon every cornfloor'). 'Reward' (ethnan) means prostitute's wages - t...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(1) **For joy**.—Better, *to exultation. “*The harlot’s hire on every corn-floor” expresses in bold imagery the prophet’s scorn for the idolatrous corruption of the people. The bounteous yield of the harvest is called the “harlot’s hire,” which lures Jehovah’s faithless bride to worship the false deity from whose hands these gifts were supposed to come. The people’s momentary prosperity is attribu...

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2

The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. winepress: or, winefat

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KJV Study Commentary

Failed expectations: 'The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.' The גֹּרֶן (goren, threshing floor) and יֶקֶב (yeqev, winepress/wine vat) will not sustain (רָעָה, ra'ah, feed/shepherd) them; תִּירוֹשׁ (tirosh, new wine) will fail/deceive (כָּחַשׁ, kachash—deny, disappoint). Agricultural blessing, presumed automatic, will fail. Baal worship aimed at ensuring...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(2) **Winepress**.—Read *wine-vat* (with margin), into which the *tîrôsh,* new wine (“ grape-juice “), flowed from the winepress. (Comp. Isaiah 5:2.) For “fail in her” read *deceive her,* with LXX. and Vulgate.

3

They shall not dwell in the LORD'S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

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KJV Study Commentary

Land forfeited: 'They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.' The אֶרֶץ יְהוָה (erets YHWH, LORD's land)—promised land forfeited. Result: return to Egypt (bondage) and eating unclean (טָמֵא, tame) in Assyria. This reverses Exodus deliverance and Torah provision. Covenant violation results in covenant blessings lost. Deut...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(3, 4) Canaan, the land of Jehovah, is holy, Assyria unholy (Amos 7:17), where there was no temple or sacred ordinances. Since meat was not a divinely sanctioned food, except in connection with a Jehovah festival, it became in the land of exile unclean. This became true in the eyes of Hosea of all eating. “In the family every feast was a Eucharistic sacrifice” (W. R. Smith, *Old Testament in the J...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 35 Eze 35:1-15. Judgment on Edom. Another feature of Israel's prosperity; those who exulted over Israel's humiliation, shall themselves be a "prey." Already stated in Eze 25:12-14; properly repeated here in full detail, as a commentary on Eze 34:28. The Israelites "shall be no more a prey"; but Edom, the type of their most bitter foes, shall be destroyed irrecoverably. **2. Mount Seir-...

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4

They 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.

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KJV Study Commentary

Worship ended: 'They 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.' Exile ends worship: no wine offerings (נֶסֶךְ, nesekh), sacrifices not pleasing (עָרַב, arav), compared to לֶחֶם אוֹנ...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(4) **Offer**—*i.e.,* pour out as a libation. A better rendering is to be obtained by abandoning the Hebrew accentuation: *And their sacrifices will not be pleasing to Him; it shall be to them as bread of sorrow*—*i.e.,* funeral food, which defiles for seven days those who partake of it. Another reference to the Mosaic legislation (Deuteronomy 26:14)—*Yea, their bread is for their appetite* (*i.e....

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**3. most desolate--**literally, "desolation and desolateness" (Jr 49:17, &c.). It is only in their national character of foes to God's people, that the Edomites are to be utterly destroyed. A remnant of Edom, as of the other heathen, is to be "called by the name of God" (Am 9:12).

5

What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?

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KJV Study Commentary

No festive days: 'What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?' Rhetorical question: מַה־תַּעֲשׂוּ (mah-ta'asu, what will you do) for appointed feasts (מוֹעֵד, mo'ed; חַג, chag)? Answer implied: nothing—exile prevents celebrating appointed times. Leviticus 23 prescribed festivals requiring temple access, land produce, covenant community. Exile ends all. This demonstr...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(5) See Note on Hosea 2:11.

6

For, 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. destruction: Heb. spoil the: or, their silver shall be desired, the nettle, etc.: Heb. the desire

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KJV Study Commentary

For, 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. Prophecy of exile death: Egypt gathers (collects bodies), Memphis (Egyptian city) buries them. Pleasant places (homes) become overgrown with nettles and thorns - complete desolation. Reverses prom...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(6) Translate, *Behold if they have gone from the desolation* (*i.e.,* Palestine laid waste by the invader), *Egypt shall gather them, Memphis bury them*—Memphis, the vast city and necropolis of Ptah, where Apis and Ibis, kings and men, lay by thousands mummied, the religious shrine of Egyptian faith in the under-world, from which Israel had been emancipated at the Exodus.—*There is a longing for ...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**5. perpetual hatred--**(Psa 137:7; Am 1:11; Ob 10-16). Edom perpetuated the hereditary hatred derived from Esau against Jacob. **shed the blood of, &c.--**The literal translation is better. "Thou hast poured out the children of Israel"; namely, like water. So Psa 22:14; 63:10, Margin; Jr 18:21. Compare 2Sa 14:14. **by the force of the sword--**literally, "by" or "upon the hands of the sw...

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7

The 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. spiritual: Heb. man of the spirit

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KJV Study Commentary

The 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. Visitation and recompense - judgment has arrived. Israel shall know emphasizes certainty. The prophet called fool and spiritual man called mad describes rejection of God's messengers. Cause: multitude of ...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(7) The latter part of the verse should be translated *Crazed is the prophet, mad the inspired one, because of the multitude of thy iniquity, while persecution is increased.* The prophet is crazed either in the depraved public opinion that Hosea scornfully describes, or, he is driven mad, distracted, by the persecutions to which he is subjected. The latter is more probable. (Comp. the following ve...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**6. I will prepare thee unto blood--**I will expose thee to slaughter. **sith--**old English for "seeing that" or "since." **thou hast not hated blood--**The Hebrew order is, "thou hast hated not--blood"; that is, thou couldst not bear to live without bloodshed [Grotius]. There is a play on similar sounds in the Hebrew; Edom resembling dam, the Hebrew for "blood"; as "Edom" means "red," the t...

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8

The 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. in the: or, against the

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KJV Study Commentary

The 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. The watchman (prophet) should align with God, but instead became snare (trap) in all ways, spreading hatred even in God's house (temple/worship). This describes prophetic corruption - those commissioned to warn became deceivers. False prophets trap people through lie...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(8) **Prophet**.—Many hold that here (as in the previous verse) this word is used in a bad sense (false prophet), and standing contrasted with “the watchman of Ephraim” (or true prophet, Hosea himself, Jeremiah 6:17; Ezekiel 3:17). They would render:—“The watchman of Ephraim is with my God.” But the verse is capable of an altogether different, and, on the whole, more satisfactory interpretation: *...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**7. cut off ... him that passeth--**that is, every passer to and fro; "the highways shall be unoccupied" (Eze 29:11; Jud 5:6).

9

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

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KJV Study Commentary

Days of visitation: 'The 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.' The יְמֵי הַפְּקֻדָּה (yemei happeqduddah, days of visitation/reckoning) arrived; Israel will know (יֵדְעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל, yede'u Yisrael). The response: calling prophet אֱוִיל (ewil, f...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(9) For the reference to Gibeah, see Judges 19.

I 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 Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

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KJV Study Commentary

God's nostalgic lament: 'I 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 Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.' The imagery recalls election's early joy: finding grapes in desert (unexpected delight) and first-ripe figs (choice fruit, highly prize...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(10) **Grapes** **in the wilderness.—**Rich dainties to the desert traveller. So had Jehovah regarded His people at the commencement of their national history in the wilderness. **Firstripe**.—The early fig that ripens in June, while the rest come to maturity about August (Isaiah 28:4; Micah 7:1; Jeremiah 24:2). **Baal-peor** was the place where Moabitic idolatry was practised. This great disgrace...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**9. shall not return--**to their former state (Eze 16:55); shall not be restored. The Hebrew text (Chetib) reads, "shall not be inhabited" (compare Eze 26:20; Mal 1:3, 4).

As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

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KJV Study Commentary

Glory departed like bird: 'As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.' The כָּבוֹד (kavod, glory)—honor, splendor, prosperity—flies away כָּעוֹף (ka'of, like bird), taking מִלֵּדָה וּמִבֶּטֶן וּמֵהֵרָיוֹן (milledah umibeten umeheryaon, from birth and from womb and from conception). This describes total demographic collapse: n...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(11) **From the birth** . . .—Or rather, *so that there shall be no childbirth, nor pregnancy, nor conception—*an ascending climax. Progeny was the glory of ancient Israel (Genesis 22:17; Deuteronomy 7:13-14; Psalm 127:5; Proverbs 17:6).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. So far from being allowed to enter on Israel's vacated inheritance, as Edom hoped (Eze 36:5; Psa 83:4, 12; Ob 13), it shall be that he shall be deprived of his own; and whereas Israel's humiliation was temporary, Edom's shall be perpetual. **Lord was there--**(Eze 48:35; Psa 48:1, 3; 132:13, 14). Jehovah claimed Judea as His own, even when the Chaldeans had overthrown the state; they could n...

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Though 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!

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KJV Study Commentary

Woe to departed: 'Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there be not a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!' Even if children survive infancy, God will bereave (שִׁכַּל, shikkel—make childless) until אֵין אָדָם (ein adam, no man left). The climax: אוֹי־גַם־לָהֶם בְּשׂוּרִי מֵהֶם (oy-gam-lahem besuri mehem, woe also to them when I depart from them). ...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**11. according to thine anger--**(Jas 2:13). As thou in anger and envy hast injured them, so I will injure thee. **I will make myself known among them--**namely, the Israelites. I will manifest My favor to them, after I have punished thee.

Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

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KJV Study Commentary

Pleasant place to slaughter: 'Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.' The comparison to Tyre (צֹר, Tsor)—wealthy, pleasant city—emphasizes Ephraim's previous prosperity. Yet despite pleasant planting (שָׁתוּל בְּנָוֶה, shatul benaweh), children go לַהוֹרֵג (lahoreg, to the slayer/murderer). This demonstrates that outward...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(13) The LXX. suggest a doubt as to the validity of our text. They render “Ephraim, even as I saw, gave their children for a prey.” The reference to Tyre is very obscure. Some would render the Hebrew word for “meadow” by “resting-place,” and interpret, “I look on Ephraim even as I look on Tyre, planted in a sure resting-place.” The impregnable fortress of Tyre was a conspicuous object in the days ...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**12-13. blasphemies ... against ... Israel ... against me--**God regards what is done against His people as done against Himself (Mt 25:45; Ac 9:2, 4, 5). Edom implied, if he did not express it, in his taunts against Israel, that God had not sufficient power to protect His people. A type of the spirit of all the foes of God and His people (1Sa 2:3; Re 13:6).

Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. miscarrying: Heb. that casteth the fruit

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KJV Study Commentary

Prayer for barrenness: 'Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.' Hosea's anguished prayer: תֵּן־לָהֶם יְהוָה מַה־תִּתֵּן (ten-lahem YHWH mah-titten, Give them, O LORD: what will You give?). Answer: רֶחֶם מַשְׁכִּיל וְשָׁדַיִם צֹמְקִים (rechem mashkil veshadayim tsomeqim, miscarrying womb and dry breasts). This shocking prayer requests covenant curse (D...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(14) Better universal childlessness than that the off-spring should be exposed to so terrible a fate. Compare this with our Lord’s words: “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare,” &c.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**12-13. blasphemies ... against ... Israel ... against me--**God regards what is done against His people as done against Himself (Mt 25:45; Ac 9:2, 4, 5). Edom implied, if he did not express it, in his taunts against Israel, that God had not sufficient power to protect His people. A type of the spirit of all the foes of God and His people (1Sa 2:3; Re 13:6).

All 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.

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KJV Study Commentary

Gilgal wickedness: 'All 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.' Gilgal identified as wickedness center—כָּל־רָעָתָם בַּגִּלְגָּל (kol-ra'atam bagilgal). Divine response: שְׂנֵאתִים (sene'tim, I hated them), expulsion from בֵּיתִי (veiti, My house), לֹא ...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(15) **Gilgal.—**On Gilgal as a seat of idolatrous worship, see Hosea 4:15. “My house” here, and in Hosea 8:1 (“Jehovah’s house”), is interpreted by Wünsche and Nowack, with considerable show of reason, to mean the “holy land,” Canaan. This interpretation is confirmed by the use of the Assyrian word *Bîtu,* corresponding to the Hebrew *bêth* “house.” The term seems to have blended the conception o...

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. (Is 65:13, 14). "The whole earth" refers to Judea and the nations that submit themselves to Judea's God; when these rejoice, the foes of God and His people, represented by Edom as a nation, shall be desolate. Things shall be completely reversed; Israel, that now for a time mourns, shall then rejoice and for ever. Edom, that now rejoices over fallen Israel, shall then, when elsewhere all is joy...

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Ephraim 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. the: Heb. the desires

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KJV Study Commentary

Ephraim smitten: 'Ephraim 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.' Triple judgment: נִכָּה (nikkah, smitten/struck), root יָבֵשׁ (yavesh, dried up), לֹא יַעֲשׂוּ־פֶרִי (lo ya'asu-feri, no fruit). Even if bearing fruit, God will kill אֵת־מַחֲמַדֵּי בִטְנָם (et-machamaddei vitnam, beloved/desira...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(16) **They shall bear no fruit**.—Ephraim, whose very name signifies fruitfulness.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. (Ob 12, 15).

My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

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KJV Study Commentary

Wanderers among nations: 'My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.' The consequence of not hearkening (לֹא שָׁמְעוּ, lo shame'u) to God: מָאַס (ma'as, rejected/cast away), becoming נֹדְדִים (nodedim, wanderers) among nations. This curse echoes Cain (Genesis 4:12,14: נָע וָנָד, na vanad, fugitive and vagabond). Covenant blessi...

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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(17) **Wanderers.**—Strangely confirmed from Assyrian monuments and the entire subsequent history of the bulk of Israel; and Israel still wanders, not coalescing with any nation, unless they lose their ancient faith by corruption into idolatry, or conversion to Christianity. (See Pusey.) **Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission. **Bible H...

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