Hosea 8:8

8 Israel is devoured; now Israel is made as an unclean vessel among nations (and now Israel is made like an unclean, or a worthless, vessel among the peoples),

Hosea 8:8 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 8:8

Israel is swallowed up
Not only their substance, but their persons also, the whole nation of them, their whole estate, civil and ecclesiastic: it notes the utter destruction of them by the Assyrians, so that nothing of them and theirs remained; just as anyone is swallowed up and devoured by a breast of prey; the present is put for the future, because of the certainty of it: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein [is] no
pleasure;
when Shalmaneser took Samaria, and with it swallowed up the whole kingdom of Israel, he carried captive the inhabitants of it, and placed them among the nations, in "Halah, Habor, by the river Gozan", and in the cities of the Medes, ( 2 Kings 17:6 ) ; where they lived poor, mean, and abject, and were treated with the utmost neglect and contempt; no more regarded than a broken useless vessel, or than a vessel of dishonour, that is made and used for the ease of nature, for which no more regard is had than for that service: thus idolaters, who dishonour God by their idolatries, shall, sooner or later, be brought to disgrace and dishonour themselves.

Hosea 8:8 In-Context

6 for also it is of Israel. A craftsman made it, and it is not (a) god; for the calf of Samaria shall be into webs of araneida. (for it is also of Israel. A craftsman made it, and it is not God; for the calf of Samaria shall be like spider webs.)

7 For they shall sow wind, and they shall reap whirlwind. A stalk standing (up) is not in them, the seed shall not make meal; that if also it maketh meal, aliens shall eat it. (For they shall sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. A standing stalk is not among them, the seed shall not make meal, or grain; and even if it maketh meal, foreigners, or strangers, shall eat it up.)

8 Israel is devoured; now Israel is made as an unclean vessel among nations (and now Israel is made like an unclean, or a worthless, vessel among the peoples),

9 for they ascended to Assur. Ephraim is a wild ass, solitary to himself (for they went up to Assyria. Ephraim is like a wild donkey, alone unto itself). They gave gifts to [their] lovers;

10 but also with meed they hired nations (and with money they hired men from among the nations). Now I shall gather them together, and they shall rest a little from (the) burden of the king and of (the) princes.