Hosea 7:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hosea 7:16
They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
High
עָ֗ל'Al
H5920
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
deceitful
רְמִיָּ֔הre.mi.Yah
H7423
remissness · noun, common feminine singular absolute
bow
כְּקֶ֣שֶׁתke.Ke.shet
H7198
a bow · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
princes
שָׂרֵיהֶ֖םsa.rei.Hem
H8269
a head person (of any rank or class) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
fall
יִפְּל֥וּyi.pe.Lu
H5307
to fall · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
sword
בַחֶ֛רֶבva.Che.rev
H2719
drought · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
rage
מִזַּ֣עַםmi.Za.'am
H2195
strictly froth at the mouth · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
tongue
לְשׁוֹנָ֑םle.sho.Nam
H3956
the tongue (of man or animals) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
this
ז֥וֹzo
H2097
this or that · demonstrative particle
derision
לַעְגָּ֖םla'.Gam
H3933
derision · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
land
בְּאֶ֥רֶץbe.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Egypt
מִצְרָֽיִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
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
Psalms 78:57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
Hosea 9:3 They shall not dwell in the LORD’s land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
Psalms 73:9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Ezekiel 23:32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it contain…
Psalms 12:4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
Hosea 9:6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, ne…
Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Psalms 52:2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 7:8–end
Having seen how vicious and corrupt the court was, we now come to enquire how it is with the country, and we find that to be no better; and no marvel if the distemper that has so seized the head affect the whole body, so that there is no soundness in it; the iniquity of Ephraim is discovered, as well as the sin of Samaria, of the people as well as the princes, of which here are divers instances.
I. They were not peculiar and entire for God, as they should have been, Hos 7:8. 1. They did not distinguish themselves from the heathen, as God had distinguished them: Ephraim, he has mingled himself among the people, has associated with them, and conformed himself to them, and has in a manner confo…
return, but not to the Most High--or, "to one who is not the Most High," one very different from Him, a stock or a stone. So the Septuagint.
deceitful bow-- (Psa 78:57). A bow which, from its faulty construction, shoots wide of the mark. So Israel pretends to seek God, but turns aside to idols.
for the rage of their tongue--their boast of safety from Egyptian aid, and their "lies" (Hos 7:13), whereby they pretended to serve God, while worshipping idols; also their perverse defense for their idolatries and blasphemies against God and His prophets (Psa 73:9; Psa 120:2-3).
their derision in . . . Egypt--Their "fall" shall be the subject of "derision" to Egypt, to whom they had applied for…
They return, but not to the Most High - They go to their idols.
They are like a deceitful bow - Which, when it is reflexed, in order to be strung, suddenly springs back into its quiescent curve; for the eastern bows stand in their quiescent state in a curve; and in order to be strung must be beaded back in the opposite direction. This bending of the bow requires both strength and skill; and if not properly done, it will fly back, and regain its former position; and in this recoil endanger the archer - may even break an arm. I have been in this danger myself in bending the Asiatic bow. For want of this knowledge not one commentator has hit the meaning of the passage.
Shall fall by the sword -…
The Church Fathers
"They turned back, so as to be without a yoke: they became as a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, by the rage of their tongue: this their derision in the land of Egypt." LXX: "they were turned into nothing, they became like a tense bow, their rulers shall fall by the sword because of their lack of understanding; this is their derision in the land of Egypt." And as they were in the beginning, before I called them by Abraham, and afterwards by Moses and Aaron, and they were without the yoke of the law and without knowledge, and mingled with all nations: so now they have returned to their former state, so as to be carried down headlong without a yoke and reins, and changed into a deceitful bow, so that having aimed at whom God had directed them, they turned their weapons against their own Lord, and sent forth arrows of blasphemy against Him. Therefore, their princes shall fall by the sword because of the rage of their tongue: this is their derision in the land of promise. They have said: "Where is he that he may reign over us?" In undisciplined pride they have pushed you away from your people, saying: "Be gone from us, for we do not desire to know your ways." And: "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots" (Exodus 32:4), and the rest. And [heretics] return to the state of the Gentiles so that they were without the knowledge and yoke of God: or they returned to nothingness, not that they ceased to be, but that in comparison to Him who speaks to Moses, "Go, tell the people of Israel: He who sent me" (Exodus 3:14), all who are against the Lord should not be said to be (they are called). According to what we read in Esther, specifically in the Septuagint: "Do not give your scepter to those who are not worthy" (Esther XIV, 11, sec. LXX), it is undoubtedly referring to idols. For if God is truth, whatever is contrary to truth is falsehood and cannot be named. This is what heretics agree on, who, having learned from the Holy Scriptures, translate the words of the Lord of the Law, Prophets, and Gospel against Him, and they are like a deceitful and perverse bow. A deceitful and wicked is the bow that strikes its director and wounds its master. Whether they have been made like a bow drawn taut, always ready for battle and disputes, for the overthrow of those who hear them. Therefore their leaders, that is, 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
Bow — The bow was in use in early times both in war and in the chase (Gen. 21:20; 27:3; 48:22). The tribe of Benjamin were famous for the use of the bow (1 Chr. 8:40; 12:2; 2 Chr. 14:8; 17:17); so also…
Bow, The · Illustrative: (When deceitful,) of the hypocrite — Illustrative: (When deceitful,) of the hypocrite
Confidence · FALSE — FALSE
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
They return, but not to the most High,.... To Egypt, and not to Jerusalem, and the temple there, and the worship of it; to their idols, and not to him whose name alone is Jehovah, and is the most High all the earth, the God of gods, and Lord of lords, and King of kings; though they made some feint as if they would return, and did begin, and take some steps towards repentance and reformation; but then they presently fell back again, as in Jehu's time, and did not go on to make a thorough reformation; nor returned to God alone, and to his pure worship they pretended to, and ought to have done: or, "not on high, upwards, above" (w); their affections and desires are not after things above; they…
Hosea 7:16
16. They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
16. Revertentur non Deo: fuerunt tanquam arcus dolosus (vel, doli:) ceciderunt (vel, cadent) in gladio principes eorum a superbia (hoc est, propter superbiam) linguae eorum: hoc eorum ludibrium in terra Aegypti.
The Prophet again assails the perverse wickedness of Israel, and also their fraud and perfidiousness. Hence he says that they feigned some sort of repentance, but it was nothing else than false; for they returned not to God. They return, he says, but not to God. Some however think…
Yet Jehovah has done still more for Israel. Hos 7:15. "And I have instructed, have strengthened their arms, and they think evil against me. Hos 7:16. They turn, but not upwards: they have become like a false bow. Their princes will fall by the sword, for the defiance of their tongue: this is their derision in the land of Egypt." יסּר here is not to chastise, but to instruct, so that זרועתם (their arms) is to be taken as the object to both verbs. Instructing the arms, according to the analogy of Psa 18:35, is equivalent to showing where and how strength is to be acquired. And the Lord has not contented Himself with merely instructing. He has also strengthened their arms, and given them power…
A crooked (literally loose) bow cannot propel its arrow to the target; it depicts Israel’s futility apart from God (see 7:8, 11).
Rashi on Hosea 7:16
They will return, but to no avail Heb. עָל. They returned to Egypt, but it did not avail them. Therefore, עָל is vowelized with a “kamatz.” Comp. (II Sam. 23:1) “The word of the man raised up high (עָל),” which is an expression of raising up and is not attached to the following word.
they were like a deceitful bow which, when one wishes to shoot with it toward the north, shoots toward the south.
their princes shall fall by the sword Jonathan son of Kareah and all the officers of the armies who returned to Egypt.
from the fury of their tongue The harsh language with which they replied to Jeremiah.
This is their derision which they will deride them in the land of Egypt. Why have you return…
