Hosea 6:9

9 As marauders lie in ambush for a victim, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, carrying out their wicked schemes.

Hosea 6:9 in Other Translations

9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

9 As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy.

9 Priests form bands of robbers, waiting in ambush for their victims. They murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin.

9 It used to be robbers who mugged pedestrians. Now it's gangs of priests Assaulting worshipers on their way to Shechem. Nothing is sacred to them.

9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yea, they have committed lewdness.

9 The priests are like gangs of robbers who lie in ambush for a person. They murder on the road to Shechem. Certainly, they have committed a crime.

9 Like robbers who wait in ambush for someone, a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem. They commit atrocities.

9 On the road to Shechem, groups of priests act like robbers. They hide and wait to attack people. They murder them and commit other shameful crimes.

Hosea 6:9 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 6:9

And as troops of robbers wait for a man
As a gang of highwaymen or footpads lie in wait in a ditch, or under a hedge, or in a cave of a rock or mountain, for a man they know will come by that way, who is full of money, in order to rob him; or, as Saadiah interprets it, as fishermen stand upon the banks of a river, and cast in their hooks to draw out the fish; and to the same purpose is Jarchi's note from R. Meir: [so] the company of priests murder in the way by consent;
not only encourage murderers, and commit murders within the city, but go out in a body together upon the highway, and there commit murders and robberies, and divide the spoil among them; all which they did unanimously, and were well agreed, being brethren in iniquity, as well as in office: or, "in the way of Shechem" ^F5; as good people passed by Gilead to Shechem, and so to Jerusalem, to worship there at the solemn feasts, they lay in wait for them, and murdered them; because they did not give into the idolatrous worship of the calves at Dan and Bethel: or, "in the manner of Shechem" ^F6; that is, they murdered men in a deceitful treacherous manner, as the Shechemites were murdered by Simeon and Levi: Joseph Kimchi interprets this of the princes and great men, so the word "cohanim" is sometimes used; but the context seems to carry it to the priests: for they commit lewdness;
or "enormity"; the most enormous crimes, and that purposely, with deliberation devising and contriving them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (hmkv) "Sichemam versus", Gussetius, Schmidt; approved by Reinbeck. De Accent. Heb. p. 442. "qua itur Sichem", Tigurine version; "qua via ad Shechemum [factum] occidunt", Junius & Tremellius; "quae ducit ad Sichermum", Piscator. So Abendana.
F6 "Sicemice", so some in Drusius.

Hosea 6:9 In-Context

7 As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.

8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, stained with footprints of blood.

9 As marauders lie in ambush for a victim, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, carrying out their wicked schemes.

10 I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: There Ephraim is given to prostitution, Israel is defiled.

11 “Also for you, Judah, a harvest is appointed. “Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 10:8
• 2. S Hosea 4:2
• 3. Jeremiah 5:30-31; Jeremiah 7:9-10; S Ezekiel 22:9; S Hosea 5:1; Hosea 7:1