7 [He is] a merchant, balances of deceit are in his hand; he loveth to oppress.
A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah; but a just weight is his delight.
saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances for deceit: that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and that we may sell the refuse of the wheat.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many unwise and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is [the] root of every evil; which some having aspired after, have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
and said to the sellers of doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hired servant in [his] wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.
And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto Jehovah of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein. And in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of hosts.
The godly [man] hath perished out of the land, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood, they hunt every man his brother with a net.
And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know judgment? Ye who hate the good, and love evil; who pluck off their skin from them, and their flesh from off their bones; and who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and as flesh within the cauldron.
Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them.
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink:
panting after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turning aside the way of the meek; and a man and his father will go in unto the [same] maid, to profane my holy name.
The people of the land use oppression and practise robbery; and they vex the poor and needy, and oppress the stranger wrongfully.
And the people shall be oppressed one by the other, and each by his neighbour; the child will be insolent against the elder, and the base against the honourable.
The just balance and scales are Jehovah's; all the weights of the bag are his work.
Here I am: testify against me before Jehovah, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I injured? or of whose hand have I received any ransom and blinded mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it to you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 12
Commentary on Hosea 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
In this chapter we have,
Hsa 12:1-6
In these verses,
Hsa 12:7-14
Here are intermixed, in these verses,