Hosea 9:17

17 My God has washed his hands of them. They wouldn't listen. They're doomed to be wanderers, vagabonds among the godless nations.

Hosea 9:17 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 9:17

My God will cast them away
With loathsomeness and contempt, having sinned against him, and done such abominable things; cast them out of their own land, as men not fit to live in it; cast them out of his sight, as not able to endure them; cast them away, as unprofitable and good for nothing; reject them from being his people; no more own them in the relation they had stood in to him; nor show them any more favour, at least until the conversion of them in the times of the Messiah. These are the words of the prophet, who calls the Lord his God, whom he worshipped, by whom he was sent, and in whose name he prophesied; and this in opposition to, and distinction from Israel, who worshipped other gods, and who had cast off the true God, and were now, or would be, cast away by him, and so no longer their God: because they did not hearken unto him;
to his word, as the Targum; to him speaking by his prophets; to the instructions, admonitions, threatenings, and predictions delivered to them from him; they did not obey his law, regard his will, or attend his worship; which was the cause of the rejection of them, and a just one: and they shall be wanderers among the nations;
being dispersed by the Assyrians in the several nations of the world, where they were fugitives and vagabonds; as their posterity are to this day.

Hosea 9:17 In-Context

15 "All their evil came out into the open at the pagan shrine at Gilgal. Oh, how I hated them there! Because of their evil practices, I'll kick them off my land. I'm wasting no more love on them. Their leaders are a bunch of rebellious adolescents.
16 Ephraim is hit hard - roots withered, no more fruit. Even if by some miracle they had children, the dear babies wouldn't live - I'd make sure of that!"
17 My God has washed his hands of them. They wouldn't listen. They're doomed to be wanderers, vagabonds among the godless nations.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.