Hosea 5:5

5 The people of Israel's arrogance testifies against them. Israel and Ephraim stumble because of their sins, and Judah stumbles with them.

Hosea 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 5:5

And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face
Or, "does" or "shall answer to his face" ^F8; contradicts him, convicts him, and fills him with shame; the pride of his heart, and of his countenance, and which appears in all his actions, and which is open and manifest to all, shall stare him in the face, and confound him; even all the sinful actions done by him in a proud and haughty manner, in contempt of God and of his laws, shall fly in his face, and fill him with dread and horror. The Targum is,

``the glory of Israel shall be humbled, and they seeing [it]:''

instead of greatness, glory, and honour, they formerly had, they shall be in a mean low condition, even in their own land, before they go into captivity; and which their eyes shall behold, as Kimchi explains the paraphrase; and to this sense Jarchi and Aben Ezra incline; and so read the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions. Some understand this of God himself, who, formerly, at least, was the pride, glory, and excellency of Israel; of whom they were proud, and boasted, and gloried in; even he shall be a swift witness against them: and therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity;
that is, the ten tribes shall fall by and for their iniquities, such as before mentioned, into ruin and misery; it has respect to their final destruction and captivity by the Assyrians; they first fell into sin, and then by it into ruin: see ( Hosea 14:1 ) ; Judah also shall fall with them;
the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, as they fell into idolatry, and were guilty of the same crimes, so should be involved in the same or like punishment, though not at the same time; for the Babylonish captivity, in which Judah was carried captive, was many years after Israel was carried captive by the Assyrians: unless this is to be understood of the low, afflicted, and distressed condition of Judah, in the times of Ahaz, by Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, who had a little before carried captive part of Israel, and by others; and in which times Judah fell into idolatrous practices, and fell by them; see ( 2 Kings 15:29 ) ( 2 Kings 16:7 2 Kings 16:8 ) ( 2 Chronicles 28:5 2 Chronicles 28:6 2 Chronicles 28:16-20 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (wynpb hne) "respondebit", Montanus, Zanchius, Tarnovius, Rivet, Schmidt; "respondit", Cocceius.

Hosea 5:5 In-Context

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel isn't a stranger to me. Now, Ephraim, you are acting like a prostitute, and Israel is unclean.

4 "The wicked things that the people have done keep them from returning to their God. They have a spirit of prostitution, and they don't know the LORD.

5 The people of Israel's arrogance testifies against them. Israel and Ephraim stumble because of their sins, and Judah stumbles with them.

6 They go with their sheep and their cattle to search for the LORD, but they can't find him. He has left them.

7 They have been unfaithful to the LORD, because their children do not belong to him. Now their New Moon [Festivals] will devour them and their fields.