Hoshea 4:5

5 Therefore shalt thou stumble and fall in the yom, and the navi also shall stumble and fall with thee in the lailah, and I will destroy thy em.

Hoshea 4:5 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 4:5

Therefore shall thou fall in the day
Either, O ye people, everyone of you, being so refractory and incorrigible; or, O thou priest, being as bad as the people; for both, on account of their sins, should fall from their present prosperity and happiness into great evils and calamities; particularly into the hands of their enemies, and be carried captive into another land: and this should be "in the day", or "today" ^F18; immediately, quickly, in a very short time; or in the daytime, openly, publicly, in the sight of all, of all the nations round about, who shall rejoice at it; or in the day of prosperity, while things go well, amidst great plenty of all good things, and when such a fall was least expected: and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night:
or the false prophets that are with you, as the Targum, and so Jarchi; either with you, O people, that dwell with you, teach you, and cause you to err; or with thee, O priest, being of the same family, as the prophets, many of them, were priests; now these should fall likewise into the same calamities, as it was but just they should, being the occasion of them: and this should be in the night; in the night of adversity and affliction, in the common calamity; or in the night of darkness, when they could not see at what they stumbled and fell, and so the more uncomfortable to them; or as the one falls in the day, the other falls in the night; as certainly as the one falls, so shall the other, and that very quickly, immediately, as the night follows the day: and I will destroy thy mother;
either Samaria, the metropolis of the nation; or the whole body of the people, the congregation, as the Targum, and Kimchi, and Ben Melech, being as a mother with respect to individuals; and are threatened with destruction because the corruption was general among prophets, priests, and people, and therefore none could hope to escape.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (Mwyh) "hodie", Munster, Montanus, Drusius, Tarnovius, Rivet; "hoc tempore", Pagninus. So Kimchi and Ben Melech.

Hoshea 4:5 In-Context

3 Therefore shall ha’aretz mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall waste away languishing, with the wild beasts of the sadeh, and with the fowls of Shomayim; yea, the dagim of the yam also shall disappear.

4 Yet let no ish bring a point of contention, nor reprove another; for thy people are as they that strive with the kohen.

5 Therefore shalt thou stumble and fall in the yom, and the navi also shall stumble and fall with thee in the lailah, and I will destroy thy em.

6 Ami are destroyed for lack of da’as (knowledge); because thou hast rejected da’as, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no kohen to Me; seeing thou hast forgotten the torat Eloheicha, I will also forget thy banim.

7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against Me; therefore will I change their kavod into kalon (ignominy, shame).