Hosea 10:13

13 But you have plowed evil and harvested trouble; you have eaten the fruit of your lies. Because you have trusted in your own power and your many soldiers,

Hosea 10:13 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 10:13

Ye have ploughed wickedness
Contrived it, and took a great deal of pains to commit it; by ploughing sowed it, and which sprung up in a plentiful crop: it may denote their first sins, from whence all others arose; as their irreligion and infidelity; their apostasy from God; their idolatry and contempt of his word and prophets: ye have reaped iniquity;
abundance of other sins have sprung up from thence; a large harvest of them have been reaped and got in; or great numbers of other sins have been committed; one sin leads on to another, and these proceed "ad infinitum"; wickedness is of an increasing nature, and grows worse and worse, and proceeds to more ungodliness: many understand this of the punishment or reward of sin: ye have eaten the fruit of lies;
as a sweet morsel though bread of deceit; which could not profit them, nor yield them in the issue the pleasure it promised them, and they hoped for from it: because thou didst trust in thy way;
in the worship of their idols, and in their alliances with neighbouring nations, and promised themselves great prosperity and happiness from hence: and in the multitude of thy mighty men;
their valiant soldiers, their numerous armies, and the generals of them, well skilled in war, and courageous; and also in their auxiliaries, which they had from the Egyptians and others; these they put their confidences in, to protect them; and so in their garrisons and fortresses, as the following words show:

Hosea 10:13 In-Context

11 Israel is like a well-trained young cow that likes to thresh grain. I will put a yoke on her neck and make her work hard in the field. Israel will plow, and Judah will break up the ground.

12 I said, 'Plant goodness, harvest the fruit of loyalty, plow the new ground of knowledge. and pours goodness on you like water.'

13 But you have plowed evil and harvested trouble; you have eaten the fruit of your lies. Because you have trusted in your own power and your many soldiers,

14 your people will hear the noise of battle, and all your strong, walled cities will be destroyed. destroyed Beth Arbel in battle, when mothers and their children were bashed to death.

15 The same will happen to you, people of Bethel, because you did so much evil. When the sun comes up, the king of Israel will die.