Hosea 10:4-14

4 They utter ¹mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so ²judgment springs up like poisonous weeds ³in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for ⁴the calf^[a] of ⁵Beth-aven. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests-- those who rejoiced over it and ⁶over its glory-- for it has departed^[b] from them.

6 ⁷The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to ⁸the great king.^[c] Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed ⁹of his idol.^[d]

7 ¹⁰Samaria's king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters.

8 The high places of ¹¹Aven, ¹²the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. ¹³Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and ¹⁴they shall say to the mountains, "Cover us," and to the hills, "Fall on us."

9 From ¹⁵the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust^[e] overtake them in Gibeah?

10 ¹⁶When I please, ¹⁷I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for ¹⁸their double iniquity.

11 Ephraim was a trained calf that ¹⁹loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will put ²⁰Ephraim to the yoke; ²¹Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself.

12 ²²Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; ²³break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and ²⁴rain righteousness upon you.

13 ²⁵You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors,

14 therefore ²⁶the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as ²⁷Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; ²⁸mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

Hosea 10:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 10

This chapter is of the same argument with the former, and others before that; setting forth the sins of the ten tribes, and threatening them with the judgments of God for them; and exhorting them to repentance, and works of righteousness. They are charged with unfruitfulness and ingratitude; increasing in idolatry, as they increased in temporal good things, Ho 10:1; with a divided heart, and with irreverence of God, and their king; and with false swearing, covenant breaking, and injustice, Ho 10:2-4; and are threatened with a removal of their king, and with the destruction of their idols, and places of idolatry, which should cause fear in the common people, and mourning among the priests, Ho 10:1,5-8. It is observed, that their sin had been of long continuance, though the Lord had been kind and good unto them, in chastising them in love, giving them good laws, sending his prophets to exhort them to repentance and reformation, but all in vain, Ho 10:9-13; wherefore they are threatened with the spoiling of their fortresses, the destruction of the people, and the cutting off of their king, Ho 10:14,15.

Cross References

• 1. [Hosea 4:2]
• 2. Amos 5:7; Amos 6:12
• 3. Hosea 12:11
• 4. See 1 Kings 12:28
• 5. See Hosea 4:15
• 6. Hosea 9:11; [1 Samuel 4:21, 22]
• 7. [Isaiah 46:2]
• 8. Hosea 5:13
• 9. Hosea 11:6
• 10. [ver. 3]
• 11. [See ver. 5 above]
• 12. 1 Kings 12:30; Amos 8:14
• 13. [Hosea 9:6]
• 14. Luke 23:30; Revelation 6:16; [Isaiah 2:19]
• 15. Hosea 9:9
• 16. [Exodus 32:34]
• 17. Hosea 7:12
• 18. [1 Kings 12:28]
• 19. [Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9; 1 Timothy 5:18]
• 20. See Hosea 6:4
• 21. See Hosea 6:4
• 22. [Hosea 8:7; Galatians 6:8]
• 23. Jeremiah 4:3
• 24. Isaiah 45:8
• 25. [Hosea 8:7]
• 26. [Hosea 1:5]
• 27. 2 Kings 17:3
• 28. [Hosea 13:16]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or calves
• [b]. Or has gone into exile
• [c]. Or to King Jareb
• [d]. Or counsel
• [e]. Hebrew the children of injustice