9 Ephraim will become a waste in the day of punishment; I have given knowledge among the tribes of Israel of what is certain.
But my words and my orders, which I gave to my servants the prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers? and turning back they said, As it was the purpose of the Lord of armies to do to us, in reward for our ways and our doings, so has he done.
As for Ephraim, their glory will go in flight like a bird: there will be no birth and no one with child and no giving of life. Even though their children have come to growth I will take them away, so that not a man will be there; for their evil-doing will be complete and they will be put to shame because of it. As I have seen a beast whose young have been taken from her, so Ephraim will give birth to children only for them to be put to death. O Lord, what will you give them? Give them bodies which may not give birth and breasts without milk. All their evil-doing is in Gilgal; there I had hate for them; because of their evil-doing I will send them out of my house; they will no longer be dear to me; all their rulers are uncontrolled. The rod has come on Ephraim, their root is dry, let them have no fruit; even though they give birth, I will put to death the dearest fruit of their bodies. My God will give them up because they did not give ear to him; they will be wandering among the nations.
Ho! crown of pride of those who are given up to wine in Ephraim, and the dead flower of his glory which is on the head of those who are overcome by strong drink! See, the Lord has a strong and cruel one; like a rain of ice, a storm of destruction, like the overflowing of a strong river, he will violently overcome them. The crown of pride of those who are given up to wine in Ephraim will be crushed under foot; And the dead flower of his glory, which is on the head of the fertile valley, will be like the first early fruit before the summer; which a man takes and puts in his mouth the minute he sees it.
Though he gives fruit among his brothers, an east wind will come, the wind of the Lord coming up from the waste land, and his spring will become dry, his fountain will be without water: it will make waste the store of all the vessels of his desire.
So this is what the Lord has said: Your wife will be a loose woman in the town, and your sons and your daughters will be put to the sword, and your land will be cut up into parts by a line; and you yourself will come to your end in an unclean land, and Israel will certainly be taken away a prisoner out of his land.
And the high places of Isaac will be unpeopled, and the holy places of Israel will be made waste; and I will come up against the family of Jeroboam with the sword.
For in the day when I give Israel punishment for his sins, I will send punishment on the altars of Beth-el, and the horns of the altar will be cut off and come down to the earth. And I will send destruction on the winter house with the summer house; the ivory houses will be falling down and the great houses will come to an end, says the Lord.
Certainly the Lord will do nothing without making clear his secret to his servants, the prophets.
Truly, there is no building up of what is pulled down by him; when a man is shut up by him, no one may let him loose.
When the words of my law came from Ephraim, he was lifted up in Israel; but when he did evil through the Baal, death overtook him. And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen. So they will be like the morning cloud, like the dew which goes early away, like the dust of the grain which the wind is driving out of the crushing-floor, like smoke going up from the fireplace.
He will go back to the land of Egypt and the Assyrian will be his king, because they would not come back to me. And the sword will go through his towns, wasting his children and causing destruction because of their evil designs.
Israel has come to destruction; now they are among the nations like a cup in which there is no pleasure.
And so to Ephraim I am like a wasting insect, and a destruction to the children of Judah.
For this reason I made it clear to you in the past, before it came I gave you word of it: for fear that you might say, My god did these things, and my pictured and metal images made them come about.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 5
Commentary on Hosea 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
The scope of this chapter is the same with that of the foregoing chapter, to discover the sin both of Israel and Judah, and to denounce the judgments of God against them.
The more generally these things are expressed of so much the more general use they are for our learning, and particularly for our admonition.
Hsa 5:1-7
Here,
Hsa 5:8-15
Here is,