Hosea 13:1

Hosea 13:1

Relentless Judgment on Israel

1 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.

2 Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let¹ the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”

3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
^aLike chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.

4 “Yet ^aI am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For ^bthere is no savior besides Me.

5 ^aI¹ knew you in the wilderness,
^bIn the land of¹ great drought.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Hosea 13:2 >>

EPHRAIM'S SINFUL INGRATITUDE TO GOD, AND ITS FATAL CONSEQUENCE; GOD'S PROMISE AT LAST. (Hos. 13:1-16)

This chapter and the fourteenth chapter probably belong to the troubled times that followed Pekah's murder by Hoshea (compare Hosea 13:11; II Kings 15:30). The subject is the idolatry of Ephraim, notwithstanding God's past benefits, destined to be his ruin.

When Ephraim spake trembling—rather, "When Ephraim (the tribe most powerful among the twelve in Israel's early history) spake (authoritatively) there was trembling"; all reverentially feared him [JEROME], (compare Job 29:8-9, Job 29:21).

offended in Baal—that is, in respect to Baal, by worshipping him (I Kings 16:31), under Ahab; a more heinous offense than even the calves. Therefore it is at this climax of guilt that Ephraim "died." Sin has, in the sight of God, within itself the germ of death, though that death may not visibly take effect till long after. Compare Romans 7:9, "Sin revived, and I died." So Adam in the day of his sin was to die, though the sentence was not visibly executed till long after (Genesis 2:17; Genesis 5:5). Israel is similarly represented as politically dead in Eze. 37:1-28.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Hosea 13:1:**

Daniel 9:27
Hosea 13:6
Nahum 1:5

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Hosea 13:2 >>

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