Hosea 11:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hosea 11:9
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.
to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
fierceness
חֲר֣וֹןcha.Ron
H2740
a burning of anger · noun, common masculine singular construct
anger
אַפִּ֔י'a.Pi
H639
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
return
אָשׁ֖וּב'a.Shuv
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
destroy
לְשַׁחֵ֣תle.sha.Chet
H7843
to decay · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
Ephraim
אֶפְרָ֑יִם'ef.Ra.yim
H669
Ephrajim · proper noun, a man's name
God
אֵ֤ל'el
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
man
אִ֔ישׁ'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
One
קָד֔וֹשׁka.Do.osh
H6918
sacred (ceremonially or morally) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
midst
בְּקִרְבְּךָ֣be.kir.be.Cha
H7130
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
enter
אָב֖וֹא'a.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
city
בְּעִֽירbe.'Ir
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · preposition + 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
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken…
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Micah 7:18-20 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his…
Isaiah 12:6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
Jeremiah 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make…
Ezekiel 37:27-28 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Hosea 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
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…
I will not return to destroy Ephraim--that is I will no more, as in past times, destroy Ephraim. The destruction primarily meant is probably that by Tiglath-pileser, who, as the Jewish king Ahaz' ally against Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Syria, deprived Israel of Gilead, Galilee, and Naphtali (Kg2 15:29). The ulterior reference is to the long dispersion hereafter, to be ended by God's covenant mercy restoring His people, not for their merits, but of His grace.
God, . . . not man--not dealing as man would, with implacable wrath under awful provocation (Isa 55:7-9; Mal 3:6). I do not, like man, change when once I have made a covenant of everlasting love, as with Israel (Num 23:19). We measur…
I will not execute - Here is the issue of this conflict in the Divine mind. Mercy triumphs over Judgment; Ephraim shall be spared. He is God, and not man. He cannot be affected by human caprices. They are now penitent, and implore mercy; he will not, as man would do, punish them for former offenses, when they have fallen into his hand. The holy place is in Ephraim, and God is in this holy place; and he will not go into the cities, as he did into Sodom and Gomorrah, to destroy them. Judgment is his strange work. How exceedingly affecting are these two verses!
The Church Fathers
"My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute the fierceness of my anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim." God imitates a father and mother who are naturally worried and cannot turn away from their children for too long. He says that, however, not because he wills one thing now and then changes his mind. Rather, he expresses his thought in different ways, in anger and love, in threat and mercy, chastising and persuading.
In the same book, it is written, "I am God and not man, the holy one in the midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city," into the den, to be sure, of vices. He himself is the only one who does not enter into the city that Cain built in the name of his son, Enoch. All of this is chanted daily by the lips of the priests: ho monos anamartētos, which in our language is translated as qui solus est sine peccato.
The philanthropy of God does not tolerate [abandonment]. "What can I do for you? Shall I view you as I did Sodom and destroy you like Gomorrah? My heart is upset." Here the love of God appears to imitate the passionate human being or, better yet, the affectionate mother. "My heart is upset, just as a woman would say about her child. My heart is upset just like the mother's." However, the previous metaphor was only partially adequate. "My heart is troubled in my regret"? God is troubled! Let no one ever think it! God forbid!
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
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).
John Gill on Hosea 11:9
I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger,.... That is, his wrath and fury to the uttermost; his people are deserving of his wrath as others, being by nature children of wrath as the rest; which they are sensible of under spiritual conviction, and therefore flee from it, where they may be safe: and though the Lord often chastises and afflicts them, yet not in wrath; or however but in a little wrath, as it seems to them; he does not stir up all his wrath, nor any in reality; all being poured upon his Son, their surety, who saves and delivers them from wrath to come;
I will not return to destroy Ephraim; or "again", or "any more, destroy" (f) him; not twice; he might be destroyed when c…
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…
No: The Lord alone would determine Israel’s fate. God repeated the words I will not three times, emphasizing his decision not to completely destroy his people. • The reason for the divine decision is, I am the Holy One living among you. God’s holiness distinguishes him from every created thing (see “God’s Absolute Holiness” Theme Note). An offended mortal might very well destroy a rebel out of pique and spite. The Holy One does not operate out of those motives.
Rashi on Hosea 11:9
I will not return from My good word, which I said. (Lev. 26:44) “I have not rejected them nor have I abhorred them,” to destroy Ephraim.
for I am God Who keeps His favorable word, and I do not retract the good.
I will not enter a city I.e., another city. I have already promised to cause My Shechinah to rest in your midst in Jerusalem, and I will never again cause it to rest on another city. Others explain it as an expression of hatred. Comp. (I Sam. 28:16) “And has become your adversary (וַיְהִי עָרֶךָ).”
