Commentary on Hosea

1A vine robbed is Israel; Fruit will he lay up for himself: (351) According to the abundance of his fruit Hath he abounded towards altars; According to the goodness of his land Hath he done good to statues.

2Divided has been their heart; They shall now be proved guilty: — He will overturn their altars, He will destroy their statues.

3For now they will say, — “We have no king, Because we feared not Jehovah; And a king, what will he do for us?” —

4They have spoken words only, — Swearing falsely, — making a covenant: (356) Judgment grows up as wormwood in the furrows of the field.

5For the calves of Bethaven, (359) Tremble will the inhabitants of Samaria; For mourn over it will its people, And its priests, who rejoice in it, over its glory: For it shall depart from it;

6And itself shall to Assyria be carried, A present to king Jareb: — Shame shall Ephraim receive, And ashamed shall Israel be of his counsel.

7Cut down shall be the king of Samaria, As a foam on the surface of the waters. (363)

8Perish shall the high places of Aven — the sin of Israel; The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; And they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,” And to the hills, “Fall on us.”

9From the days of Gibeah hast thou, Israel, sinned: There they stood, — the battle in Gibeah, Against the children of iniquity, laid not hold on them.

10It is my wish, and I will chastise them; And assembled against them shall nations be, When they shall be bound together by their two furrows. (371)

11Ephraim is an heifer, trained to love the treading of corn; But I passed over on her beautiful neck; — To ride will I make Ephraim, — Plough shall Judah, — harrow for himself shall Jacob.

12Sow for yourselves in righteousness, Gather for your measure kindness; Plough for yourselves what has been ploughed: And time it is to seek Jehovah, till he come, And rain righteousness upon you: —

13Ye have ploughed ungodliness, iniquity have ye reaped; Ye have eaten the fruit of falsehood: For you have trusted in your own way, In the multitude of thy valiant ones.

14A tumult shall therefore rise among thy people, And every one of thy fortresses shall be laid waste, According to the devastation of Shalman in Betharbel: In the day of battle shall the mother, With the children, be dashed in pieces. —

15Thus shall Bethel do to you, On account of wickedness — of your wickedness: In one morning shall utterly perish the king of Israel.