Hosea 9:12

12 But suppose they do have children. Then I will kill every one of them. How terrible it will be for them when I turn away from them!"

Hosea 9:12 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 9:12

Though they bring up their children
Though this be the case of some, as to be conceived, carried in the womb to the full time, and be born, and brought up to a more adult age, and appear very promising to live, and perpetuate the names of their fathers and their families: yet will I bereave them;
their parents of them, by the sword, famine, pestilence, or by carrying them captive into a foreign country: [that there shall] not [be] a man [left];
in the whole land of Israel, but all shall be destroyed, or carried captive; or, "from men" ^F9; that is, either from being men, as the Targum; though they are brought up to some ripeness, and a more adult age than others, yet arrive not to such a time and age as to be called men, as Kimchi observes; or from being among men, being either taken away by death, or removed from the society of men to live among beasts, and to he slaves like them: yea, woe also to them, when I depart from them;
withdraw my presence, favour, and protection from them; or remove my Shechinah from them, as the Targum; and leave them to the spoil and cruelty of their enemies, which would be a greater calamity and judgment than the former. The Septuagint, and so Theodotion, render it, "woe is to them, my flesh is of them"; which some of the ancients interpret of the incarnation of Christ, not considering that the words are spoken of Ephraim, or the ten tribes; whereas the Messiah was to spring, and did, from the family of David, and tribe of Judah.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (Mdam) "ab homine", Montanus, Tigurine version, Schmidt; "ut non sint homines", Pagninus.

Hosea 9:12 In-Context

10 The LORD says, "When I first found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert. When I saw your people long ago, it was like seeing the early fruit on a fig tree. But then they went to Baal Peor. There they gave themselves to that shameful god Baal. They became as evil as the god they loved.

11 Ephraim's greatness and glory will be gone. It will fly away like a bird. Women will no longer have children. They will not be able to get pregnant.

12 But suppose they do have children. Then I will kill every one of them. How terrible it will be for them when I turn away from them!"

13 Tyre is planted in a pleasant place. And so is Ephraim. But the Assyrians will kill Ephraim's children.

14 Lord, what should you do to Ephraim's people? Give them women whose babies die before they are born. Give them women whose breasts don't have any milk.