Logos Bible Study

Hosea 8

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God Will Raise Up the Assyrians to Attack Israel

8:1Sound the alarm!1

An eagle2 looms over the temple of the Lord!

For they have broken their covenant with me,3

and have rebelled against my law.

8:2Israel cries out to me,

“My God, we acknowledge you!”

8:3But Israel has rejected what is morally good;

so an enemy will pursue him.

The Political and Cultic Sin of Israel

8:4They enthroned kings without my consent!4

They appointed princes without my approval!5

They made idols out of their silver and gold,

but they will be destroyed!6

8:5O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol!

My anger burns against them!

They will not survive much longer without being punished,7

even though they are Israelites!

8:6That idol was made by a workman—it is not God!

The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.

The Fertility Cultists Will Become Infertile

8:7They sow the wind,

and so they will reap the whirlwind!

The stalk does not have any standing grain;

it will not produce any flour.

Even if it were to yield grain,

foreigners would swallow it all up.

8:8Israel will be swallowed up among the nations;

they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.

The Willful Donkey and the Wanton Harlot

8:9They have gone up to Assyria,

like a wild donkey that wanders off.

Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers.8

8:10Even though they have hired lovers among the nations,9

I will soon gather them together for judgment.10

Then11 they will begin to waste away

under the oppression of a mighty king.12

Sacrifices Ineffective without Moral Obedience

8:11Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings,

these have become altars for sinning!

8:12I spelled out my law for him in great detail,

but they regard it as something totally unknown13 to them!

8:13They offer up sacrificial gifts to me,

and eat the meat,

but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices.14

Soon he will remember their wrongdoing,

he will punish their sins,

and they will return to Egypt.

8:14Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces,

and Judah has built many fortified cities.

But I will send fire on their cities;

it will consume their royal citadels.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; “A trumpet to your lips!”
  2. 2 Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. , ).
  3. 3 Heb “my covenant” (so , , ); “the covenant I made with them.”
  4. 4 Heb “but without me”; “without asking my permission”; “without consulting me.”
  5. 5 Heb “but I did not know”; “but without my knowledge.”
  6. 6 Heb “in order to be cut off.” The text gives the impression that they made the idols for this purpose, but the language is ironic and sarcastic, bringing out the futility of their efforts. One could paraphrase, “they made idols … but only so that they might be destroyed.” Though they had other plans for the idols, God’s judgment would bring their intentions to naught.
  7. 7 Heb “How long will they be able to be free from punishment?” This rhetorical question affirms that Israel will not survive much longer until God punishes it.
  8. 8 Or “has hired herself out to lovers”; cf. “has sold herself to lovers.”
  9. 9 Or “they have hired themselves out to lovers”; cf. “they hire allies among the nations.”
  10. 10 The Piel stem of קָבַץ (qavats) is often used in a positive sense, meaning “to regather” a dispersed people ( קבץ 3.a; 868 קָבַץ 1.α). However, in Hosea 8:10 it is used in a negative sense, meaning “to assemble (people) for judgment” (e.g., Ezek 20:34; Hos 9:6; 3.e.i). Cf. “I will hold them fast” (in judgment, see the parallel in 9:6).
  11. 11 The vav consecutive + preterite וַיָּחֵלּוּ (vayyakhellu, Hiphil preterite 3rd person common plural from חָלַל, khalal, “to begin”]) denotes temporal subordination to the preceding clause: “then …” (so ); cf. , “Soon.”
  12. 12 Heb “a king of princes” (cf. , ); “the emperor of Assyria.”
  13. 13 Heb “foreign” or “alien”; , “as a strange thing.”
  14. 14 Heb “does not accept them”; the referent (their sacrifices) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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