8 Ephraim is looking `away' from My God, The prophet! a snare of a fowler `is' over all his ways, Hatred `is' in the house of his God.
`Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment `is' for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.
that there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, a watchman I have given thee to the house of Israel, and thou hast heard from My mouth a word, and hast warned them from Me.
And the captain whom the king hath, by whose hand he hath been supported, answereth the man of God and saith, `Lo, Jehovah is making windows in the heavens -- shall this thing be?' and he saith, `Lo, thou art seeing it with thine eyes, and thereof thou dost not eat.'
And Elisha prayeth, and saith, `Jehovah, open, I pray Thee, his eyes, and he doth see;' and Jehovah openeth the eyes of the young man, and he seeth, and lo, the hill is full of horses and chariots of fire, round about Elisha. And they come down unto it, and Elisha prayeth unto Jehovah, and saith, `Smite, I pray Thee, this nation with blindness;' and He smiteth them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
and it cometh to pass, they are burying a man, and lo, they have seen the troop, and cast the man into the grave of Elisha, and the man goeth and cometh against the bones of Elisha, and liveth, and riseth on his feet.
The watchmen have found me, (Who are going round about the city), `Him whom my soul have loved saw ye?'
And I have raised up for you watchmen, Attend ye to the voice of the trumpet. And they say, `We do not attend.'
And I say, `Ah, Lord Jehovah, Lo, the prophets are saying to them: Ye do not see a sword, yea, famine is not to you, For true peace I give to you in this place.'
Thy prophets have seen for thee a false and insipid thing, And have not revealed concerning thine iniquity, To turn back thy captivity, And they see for thee false burdens and causes of expulsion.
Because of the sins of her prophets, The iniquities of her priests, Who are shedding in her midst the blood of the righteous,
Their best one `is' as a brier, The upright one -- than a thorn-hedge, The day of thy watchmen -- Thy visitation -- hath come. Now is their perplexity.
if I did not do among them the works that no other hath done, they were not having sin, and now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father;
yea, the leprosy of Naaman doth cleave to thee, and to thy seed, -- to the age;' and he goeth out from before him -- leprous as snow.
and he saith, I go out, and have been a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets; and He saith, Thou dost entice, and also thou art able; go out and do so.
and he taketh the robe of Elijah that fell from off him, and smiteth the waters, and saith, `Where `is' Jehovah, God of Elijah -- even He?' and he smiteth the waters, and they are halved, hither and thither, and Elisha passeth over.
and he goeth out unto the source of the waters, and casteth there salt, and saith, `Thus said Jehovah, I have given healing to these waters; there is not thence any more death and sterility.'
and now, bring to me a minstrel; and it hath been, at the playing of the minstrel, that the hand of Jehovah is on him, and he saith, `Thus said Jehovah, Make this valley ditches -- ditches; for thus said Jehovah, Ye do not see wind, nor do ye see rain, and that valley is full of water, and ye have drunk -- ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. `And this hath been light in the eyes of Jehovah, and he hath given Moab into your hand, and ye have smitten every fenced city, and every choice city, and every good tree ye cause to fall, and all fountains of waters ye stop, and every good portion ye mar with stones.' And it cometh to pass in the morning, at the ascending of the `morning'-present, that lo, waters are coming in from the way of Edom, and the land is filled with the waters,
And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets hath cried unto Elisha, saying, `Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou hast known that thy servant was fearing Jehovah, and the lender hath come to take my two children to him for servants.' And Elisha saith unto her, `What do I do for thee? declare to me, what hast thou in the house?' and she saith, `Thy maid-servant hath nothing in the house except a pot of oil.' And he saith, `Go, ask for thee vessels from without, from all thy neighbours -- empty vessels -- let `them' not be few; and thou hast entered, and shut the door upon thee, and upon thy sons, and hast poured out into all these vessels, and the full ones thou dost remove.' And she goeth from him, and shutteth the door upon her, and upon her sons; they are bringing nigh unto her, and she is pouring out, and it cometh to pass, at the filling of the vessels, that she saith unto her son, `Bring nigh unto me a vessel more,' and he saith unto her, `There is not a vessel more;' and the oil stayeth. And she cometh and declareth to the man of God, and he saith, `Go, sell the oil, and repay thy loan; and thou `and' thy sons do live of the rest.'
and he goeth in and shutteth the door upon them both, and prayeth unto Jehovah. And he goeth up, and lieth down on the lad, and putteth his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands, and stretcheth himself upon him, and the flesh of the lad becometh warm; and he turneth back and walketh in the house, once hither and once thither, and goeth up and stretcheth himself upon him, and the youth sneezeth till seven times, and the youth openeth his eyes. And he calleth unto Gehazi, and saith, `Call unto this Shunammite;' and he calleth her, and she cometh in unto him, and he saith, `Lift up thy son.' And she goeth in, and falleth at his feet, and boweth herself to the earth, and lifteth up her son, and goeth out.
And his minister saith, `What -- do I give this before a hundred men?' and he saith, `Give to the people, and they eat, for thus said Jehovah, Eat and leave;'
And he goeth down and dippeth in Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh doth turn back as the flesh of a little youth, and is clean.
for if the truth of God in my falsehood did more abound to His glory, why yet am I also as a sinner judged?
And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah maketh for himself horns of iron, and saith, `Thus said Jehovah, By these thou dost push the Aramaeans till they are consumed;'
And it cometh to pass, at the going up of the `evening-'present, that Elijah the prophet cometh nigh and saith, `Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to-day let it be known that Thou `art' God in Israel, and I Thy servant, that by Thy word I have done the whole of these things; answer me, O Jehovah, answer me, and this people doth know that Thou `art' Jehovah God; and Thou hast turned their heart backward.' And there falleth a fire of Jehovah, and consumeth the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and the water that `is' in the trench it hath licked up. And all the people see, and fall on their faces, and say, `Jehovah, He `is' the God, Jehovah, He `is' the God.'
and now, send, gather unto me all Israel, unto the mount of Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the shrine, four hundred -- eating at the table of Jezebel.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 9
Commentary on Hosea 9 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 9
In this chapter,
Hsa 9:1-6
Here,
Hsa 9:7-10
For their further awakening, it is here threatened,
Hsa 9:11-17
In the foregoing verses we saw the sin of Israel derived from their fathers; here we see the punishment of Israel derived to their children; for, as death entered by sin at first, so it is still entailed with it. We may observe, in these verses,