Hosea 5:7

7 They are unfaithful to the LORD; they give birth to illegitimate children. When they celebrate their New Moon feasts, he will devour^[a] their fields.

Hosea 5:7 in Other Translations

7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.

7 They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

7 They have betrayed the honor of the LORD, bearing children that are not his. Now their false religion will devour them along with their wealth.

7 They've played fast and loose with me for too long, filling the country with their bastard offspring. A plague of locusts will devastate their violated land.

7 They betrayed the Lord; indeed, they gave birth to illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their fields.

Hosea 5:7 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 5:7

They have dealt treacherously against the Lord
Which was the reason of his departure from them; as a woman deals treacherously with her husband when she is unfaithful to him, and commits adultery; so Israel and Judah dealt treacherously with the Lord, who stood in the relation of a husband to them in covenant, by committing idolatry; for they have begotten strange children;
either of strange women, the daughters of idolatrous Heathens they married, so the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi; or rather their natural children, though born of Israelitish or Jewish parents, both such; yet being educated by them in an idolatrous way, and brought up in the commission of the evils their parents were guilty of, are said to be strange children to the Lord, alienated from him and his worship, and as such to be begotten: now shall a month devour them with their portions;
the Jews understand this literally of the month Ab, the time of Jerusalem's destruction, so Jarchi and R. Jeshuah in Aben Ezra and Ben Melech; or the month Tammuz, in which the city was broke up, and the month Ab, in which it was destroyed, as Kimchi; or rather, which is also a sense he mentions, it signifies a short time, a very little while before the destruction should come; and compares it with ( Zechariah 11:8 ) ; though, according to the Targum, it is to be understood of every month; and so denotes the continual desolation that should be made, until they were utterly destroyed; but others seem better to interpret it of their new moon, or first day of the month, which they observed in a religious way, by offering sacrifice and on which they depended; but this should be so far from being of any service to them, that it should turn against them; and, because of the idolatry committed in them, the Lord would hate them, and destroy them on account of them; even their farms, and fields, and vineyards, which were their portions and inheritances; see ( Isaiah 1:13 Isaiah 1:14 ) ; unless it is rather to be understood of the parts of the beasts slain in sacrifice on those days, to appease the Lord; which would be so far from doing it, that they would provoke him yet more to wrath, and slay them.

Hosea 5:7 In-Context

5 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them; the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them.

6 When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.

7 They are unfaithful to the LORD; they give birth to illegitimate children. When they celebrate their New Moon feasts, he will devour their fields.

8 “Sound the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah. Raise the battle cry in Beth Aven ; lead on, Benjamin.

9 Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of reckoning. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.

Cross References

• 1. S Isaiah 24:16; Hosea 6:7
• 2. Hosea 2:4
• 3. Isaiah 1:14
• 4. S Hosea 2:11-12

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "Now their New Moon feasts" / "will devour them and"