Hosea 11:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hosea 11:8
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Ephraim
אֶפְרַ֗יִם'ef.Ra.yim
H669
Ephrajim · proper noun, a man's name
deliver
אֲמַגֶּנְךָ֙'a.ma.gen.Kha
H4042
properly · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
make
אֶתֶּנְךָ֣'e.ten.Kha
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Admah
כְאַדְמָ֔הkhe.'ad.Mah
H126
Admah · preposition + proper noun, a place name
set
אֲשִֽׂימְךָ֖'a.si.me.Kha
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Zeboim
כִּצְבֹאיִ֑םkitz.vo.Yim
H6636
Tseboim or Tsebijim · preposition + proper noun, a place name
heart
לִבִּ֔יli.Bi
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
turned
נֶהְפַּ֤ךְneh.Pakh
H2015
to turn about or over · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
repentings
נִחוּמָֽיni.chu.Mai
H5150
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
kindled
נִכְמְר֥וּnikh.me.Ru
H3648
properly · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
together
יַ֖חַדYa.chad
H3162
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 31:20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are tr…
Hosea 6:4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it g…
Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy child…
Deuteronomy 32:36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up,…
Deuteronomy 29:23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like t…
Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh,…
2 Samuel 24:16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destro…
Amos 4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not r…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 11:8–end
In these verses we have,
I. God's wonderful backwardness to destroy Israel (Hos 11:8, Hos 11:9): How shall I give thee up? Here observe,
1. God's gracious debate within himself concerning Israel's case, a debate between justice and mercy, in which victory plainly inclines to mercy's side. Be astonished, O heavens! at this, and wonder, O earth! at the glory of God's goodness. Not that there are any such struggles in God as there are in us, or that he is ever fluctuating or unresolved; no, he is in one mind, and knows it; but they are expressions after the manner of men, designed to show what severity the sin of Israel had deserved, and yet how divine grace would be glorified in sparing them n…
as Admah . . . Zeboim--among the cities, including Sodom and Gomorrah, irretrievably overthrown (Deu 29:23).
heart is turned within me--with the deepest compassion, so as not to execute My threat (Lam 1:20; compare Gen 43:30; Kg1 3:26). So the phrase is used of a new turn given to the feeling (Psa 105:25).
repentings--God speaks according to human modes of thought (Num 23:19). God's seeming change is in accordance with His secret everlasting purpose of love to His people, to magnify His grace after their desperate rebellion.
Adam Clarke on Hosea 11:8
How shall I give thee up - See the notes on Hos 6:4, where we have similar words from similar feeling.
Mine heart is turned within me - Justice demands thy punishment; Mercy pleads for thy life. As thou changest, Justice resolves to destroy, or Mercy to save. My heart is oppressed, and I am weary with repenting - with so frequently changing my purpose. All this, though spoken after the manner of men, shows how merciful, compassionate, and loath to punish the God of heaven is. What sinner or saint upon earth has not been a subject of these gracious operations?
John Gill on Hosea 11:8
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee,
Israel?.... That is, as usually interpreted, into the hand of the enemy, or unto wrath, ruin, and destruction; for, notwithstanding all the sins of this people before observed, and the punishment threatened to be inflicted on them, the Lord is pleased here, and in the following verses, to give some intimations of his goodness, grace, and mercy to them; not to the whole body of them, for they as such were given and delivered up to the enemy, and carried captive, and dispersed among the nations, and were never recovered to this day; but to a remnant among them, according to the election of grace, that should spring from them, for th…
The Church Fathers
"How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city." LXX: "What shall I do unto thee, Ephraim? shall I protect thee, Israel? what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goes forth. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." In the place where we and the seventy were interpreters, is it written in Hebrew "Shall I protect you, Israel?" which Aquila rendered into Greek as, "I will surround you with a shield." When we thought that this might be understood in a favorable sense and might indicate protection, the opposite meaning is suggested by the edition of Symmachus, which has, "I will surrender you." The translation of Theodotion is also unfavorable, but unfavorable in a different way: "I will strip you," he says, "and take away your weapon," that is, "the shield" with which I had previously protected you; and this meaning is more in keeping with the Lord's threatening. Therefore what he says is this: because they did not want to repent, and Assur became their king, the sword will devour cities, princes, and the people, and a yoke will be imposed upon them which will not be taken from them. And because the sentence seemed harsh, leaving them no place for repentance, God, as a concerned parent, now speaks to Israel: "What shall I do for thee, Ephraim?" How shall I strip thee by my help? What shall I do for thee? By what means shall I correct thee? By what remedy can I heal you? Like Admah and Zeboiim I will make you, which are two of the five cities, just as we read in Genesis: 'Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim and Bela, which is called Segor,' and in the Syrian language 'Zoar.' Therefore, I will make you and turn you into a desert, and I will wipe you out until you become ashes and dust, just as I wiped out Admah and Zeboiim. And when a harsh, indeed cruel, sentence had been pronounced, the…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Admah — Earth, one of the five cities of the vale of Siddim (Gen. 10:19). It was destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah (19:24; Deut. 29:23). It is supposed by some to be the same as the Adam of Josh. 3:16,…
Zeboim — Gazelles or roes. (1.) One of the “five cities of the plain” of Sodom, generally coupled with Admah (Gen. 10:19; 14:2; Deut. 29:23; Hos. 11:8). It had a king of its own (Shemeber), and was therefore…
Admah · A city in the vale of Siddim — A city in the vale of Siddim
Backsliders · 8:22; — 8:22;
Zeboim · .One of the cities in the Valley of Siddim — .One of the cities in the Valley of Siddim
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hosea 11:8-9
8. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
8. Qumodo ponam te Ephraim? Tradam te Israel? Quomodo ponam te sicut Sodomam? Statuam te sicut Zxeboim? Inversum est in me cor meum, simul revolutae sunt (alii, incaluerunt; nam kmr illud significat, simul ergo revolutae sunt) poenitudines meae.
9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.
9. Non faciam (id est, non exequar) furorem i…
They deserved to be utterly destroyed for this, and would have been if the compassion of God had not prevented it. With this turn a transition is made in Hos 11:8 from threatening to promise. Hos 11:8. "How could I give thee up, O Ephraim! surrender thee, O Israel! how could I give thee up like Admah, make thee like Zeboim! My heart has changed within me, my compassion is excited all at once. Hos 11:9. I will not execute the burning heat of my wrath, I will not destroy Ephraim again: for I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee: and come not into burning wrath." "How thoroughly could I give thee up!" sc. if I were to punish thy rebellion as it deserved. Nâthan, to surrender…
Though justice demanded Israel’s death, the Lord recoiled at the thought of giving Israel up, of letting them go, of destroying his son. • Admah and Zeboiim were cities near Sodom and Gomorrah that God totally destroyed (Deut 29:23). • In Hebrew thought, the heart is the center of the intellect and the will.
Rashi on Hosea 11:8
deliver you Heb. אֲמַגֶּנְךָ. Comp. (Gen. 14:20) “Who delivered (מִגֵן) your adversaries.”
My remorse has been kindled Heb. נִכְרְמוּ, are heated. This is an Aramaic expression. Comp. (Lam. 5:10) “Our skin is heated (נִכְמָרוּ) like an oven.”
