Hosea 4:3

3 propter hoc lugebit terra et infirmabitur omnis qui habitat in ea in bestia agri et in volucre caeli sed et pisces maris congregabuntur

Hosea 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 4:3

Therefore shall the land mourn
Because of the calamities on it, the devastations made in it; nothing growing upon it, through a violent drought; or the grass and corn being trodden down, or eaten up, by a foreign army: and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish;
that is, every man, an inhabitant thereof, shall become weak, languish away, and die through wounds received by the enemy; or for want of food, or being infected with the wasting and destroying pestilence: with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven;
the one shall die in the field for want of grass to eat, and the other shall drop to the earth through the infection of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away;
or "gathered" ^F16; to some other place, so as to disappear; or they shall be consumed and die, as Kimchi interprets it; and as all these creatures are for the good of men, for sustenance, comfort, and delight, when they are taken away, it is by way of punishment for their sins. So the Targum,

``the fishes of the sea shall be lessened for their sins.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (wpoay) "congregabuntur", V. L.; "collgentur", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Schmidt.

Hosea 4:3 In-Context

1 audite verbum Domini filii Israhel quia iudicium Domino cum habitatoribus terrae non est enim veritas et non est misericordia et non est scientia Dei in terra

2 maledictum et mendacium et homicidium et furtum et adulterium inundaverunt et sanguis sanguinem tetigit

3 propter hoc lugebit terra et infirmabitur omnis qui habitat in ea in bestia agri et in volucre caeli sed et pisces maris congregabuntur

4 verumtamen unusquisque non iudicet et non arguatur vir populus enim tuus sicut hii qui contradicunt sacerdoti

5 et corrues hodie et corruet etiam propheta tecum nocte tacere feci matrem tuam