Hosea 11:1-11

The Lord's Love for Israel

1 ¹When Israel was a child, ²I loved him, and out of Egypt I ³called ⁴my son.

2 ⁵The more they were called, the more they went away; ⁶they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.

3 Yet it was ⁷I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that ⁸I healed them.

4 ⁹I led them with cords of kindness,^[a] with the bands of love, and ¹⁰I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and ¹¹I bent down to them and fed them.

5 ¹²They shall not^[b] return to the land of Egypt, but ¹³Assyria shall be their king, ¹⁴because ¹⁵they have refused to return to me.

6 ¹⁶The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them ¹⁷because of their own counsels.

7 My people are bent ¹⁸on turning away from me, and though ¹⁹they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.

8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? ²⁰How can I make you ²¹like Admah? How can I treat you ²²like Zeboiim? ²³My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

9 I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; ²⁴for I am God and not a man, ²⁵the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.^[c]

10 ²⁶They shall go after the LORD; ²⁷he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling ²⁸from the west;

11 they shall come trembling like birds ²⁹from Egypt, and ³⁰like doves ³¹from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.

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Hosea 11:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 11

This chapter gives an account of the free and ancient love of God to Israel, and of the benefits and blessings of goodness he bestowed upon them; and of their ingratitude in not owning them, nor hearkening to his prophets, but sacrificing and burning incense to idols, Ho 11:1-4; wherefore they are threatened with disappointment of relief from Egypt, with captivity into Assyria, and with the ravages of the sword in all places, being a people bent to backsliding, and incorrigible, Ho 11:5-7; and yet, notwithstanding all this, the bowels of the Lord yearn after them, and promises of mercy are made to them; that they shall not utterly be destroyed, but a remnant shall be spared; which in the latter day shall be called and follow after the Lord, the King Messiah, and be returned from their captivity, and be resettled in their own land, and replaced in their own houses, Ho 11:8-11; the chapter is concluded with an honourable character of Judah, Ho 11:12.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 31

1. [Hosea 2:15]
2. Deuteronomy 7:8; [Hosea 14:4]
3. Cited Matthew 2:15
4. Exodus 4:22; [Malachi 1:6]
5. [ver. 7]
6. [Hosea 2:13; Hosea 13:1, 2]
7. [Hosea 7:15; Deuteronomy 1:31]
8. Exodus 15:26
9. Jeremiah 31:3; [John 6:44; John 12:32]
10. Leviticus 26:13
11. See Psalms 78:24-29
12. [Hosea 8:13]
13. [Hosea 10:3]
14. [2 Kings 17:13, 14]
15. [Hosea 4:16; Hosea 7:16]
16. [Hosea 10:14]
17. Hosea 10:6
18. Hosea 14:4
19. [ver. 2]
20. [Genesis 19:24, 25; Jeremiah 49:18; Jeremiah 50:40; Amos 4:11; Jude 7]
21. Genesis 14:8; Deuteronomy 29:23
22. Genesis 14:8; Deuteronomy 29:23
23. [Deuteronomy 32:36]
24. See Numbers 23:19
25. See Isaiah 12:6
26. [Hosea 3:5]
27. Isaiah 31:4; Jeremiah 25:30; Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2
28. Isaiah 11:11; Zechariah 8:7
29. See Hosea 8:13
30. Isaiah 60:8
31. Zechariah 10:6, 10; [Hosea 9:3]

Footnotes 3

[a]. Or humaneness; Hebrew man
[b]. Or surely
[c]. Or into the city

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.