1 The word of Jehovah that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.
And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. It was he that built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and in the days that he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper. And he went forth and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-Baal, and the Maonites. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad to the entrance of Egypt; for he became exceeding strong. And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the angle, and fortified them. And he built towers in the desert and digged many cisterns; for he had much cattle, both in the lowland and on the plateau, husbandmen [also] and vinedressers on the mountains and in Carmel; for he loved husbandry. And Uzziah had an army of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. The whole number of the chief fathers of the mighty men of valour was two thousand six hundred. And under their hand was an army-host of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, that made war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy. And Uzziah prepared for them, throughout the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and even slinging-stones. And he made in Jerusalem machines invented by skilful men, to be upon the towers and upon the bulwarks, wherewith to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he became strong. But when he became strong his heart was lifted up to [his] downfall; and he transgressed against Jehovah his God, and went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him priests of Jehovah, eighty valiant men; and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said to him, It is not for thee, Uzziah, to burn incense to Jehovah, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast transgressed; neither shall it be for thine honour from Jehovah Elohim. And Uzziah was wroth; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; even he himself hasted to go out, because Jehovah had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of Jehovah. And Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. And the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz write. And Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the burial-ground of the kings, for they said, He is a leper. And Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
And it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abi, daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and broke in pieces the serpent of brass that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among any] that were before him. And he clave to Jehovah, and did not turn aside from following him, but kept his commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses. And Jehovah was with him; he prospered whithersoever he went forth. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. He smote the Philistines unto Gazah and its borders, from the watchmen's tower to the fortified city. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, [that] Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. And the king of Assyria carried away Israel to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes; because they hearkened not to the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant, all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded; and they would not hear nor do it. And in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have sinned; retire from me: I will bear what thou layest upon me. And the king of Assyria laid upon Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and the posts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish, with a strong force, against king Hezekiah, to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller's field. And they called to the king. Then came forth to them Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the chronicler. And Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? Thou sayest -- but it is a word of the lips -- There is counsel and strength for war. Now on whom dost thou rely, that thou hast revolted against me? Now behold, thou reliest upon the staff of that broken reed, upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it goes into his hand and pierces it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that rely upon him. And if ye say to me, We rely upon Jehovah our God: is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? And now, engage, I pray thee, with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou canst set the riders upon them. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants? And thou reliest upon Egypt for chariots and for horsemen! Am I now come up without Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it. And Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, and Shebnah and Joah said to Rab-shakeh, Speak, we pray thee, to thy servants in Syriac, for we understand it, and talk not with us in the Jewish [language] in the ears of the people that are on the wall. And Rab-shakeh said to them, Is it to thy master and to thee that my master sent me to speak these words? Is it not to the men that sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you? And Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jewish [language], and spoke and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of the [king's] hand. Neither let Hezekiah make you rely upon Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will certainly deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make peace with me, and come out to me; and eat every one of his vine and every one of his fig-tree, and drink every one the waters of his own cistern; until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive-trees and of honey, that ye may live and not die; and hearken not to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Which are they among all the gods of the countries, who have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? But the people were silent and answered him not a word; for the king's command was, saying, Answer him not. And Eliakim the son of Hilkijah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the chronicler, came to Hezekiah with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rab-shakeh.
In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not what was right in the sight of Jehovah his God, like David his father, but walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even caused his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. Then Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to battle; and they besieged Ahaz, but were unable to conquer him. At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there to this day. And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who have risen up against me. And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it [as] a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria hearkened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried it captive to Kir, and put Rezin to death. And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria; and he saw the altar that was at Damascus, and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the form of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all its workmanship. And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus; thus Urijah the priest made [it], against king Ahaz came from Damascus. And when the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king approached to the altar, and offered upon it. And he burned his burnt-offering and his oblation, and poured out his drink-offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace-offering upon the altar. And the brazen altar which was before Jehovah, he brought forward from the forefront of the house, from between [his] altar and the house of Jehovah, and put it by the side of [his] altar on the north. And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt-offering, and the evening oblation, and the king's burnt-offering, and his oblation, and the burnt-offering of all the people of the land, and their oblation, and their drink-offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt-offerings, and all the blood of the sacrifices; and the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire [by]. And Urijah the priest did according to all that king Ahaz had commanded. And king Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the lavers from off them; and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a stone pavement. And the covered way of the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry outside, he turned from the house of Jehovah on account of the king of Assyria. And the rest of the acts of Ahaz, what he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.
And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
for prophecy was not ever uttered by [the] will of man, but holy men of God spake under the power of [the] Holy Spirit.
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,
And the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
the word of Jehovah came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Jehovah was there upon him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 1
Commentary on Hosea 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Book of the Prophet Hosea
Chapter 1
The mind of God is revealed to this prophet, and by him to the people, in the first three chapters, by signs and types, but afterwards only by discourse. In this chapter we have,
Hsa 1:1
Hsa 1:2-7
These words, The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea, may refer either,
Hsa 1:8-11
We have here a prediction,