Hosea 8:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hosea 8:1
Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
a cornet (as giving a clear sound) or curved horn · noun, common masculine singular absolute
mouth
חִכְּךָ֣chi.ke.Kha
H2441
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
eagle
כַּנֶּ֖שֶׁרka.Ne.sher
H5404
the eagle (or other large bird of prey) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
house
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
transgressed
עָבְר֣וּ'a.ve.Ru
H5674
to cross over · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
covenant
בְרִיתִ֔יve.ri.Ti
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
trespassed
פָּשָֽׁעוּpa.Sha.'u
H6586
to break away (from just authority) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
law
תּוֹרָתִ֖יto.ra.Ti
H8451
a precept or statute · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
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
Hosea 6:7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
Deuteronomy 28:49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou sha…
Jeremiah 4:13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are sp…
Hosea 5:8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin.
Habakkuk 1:8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, an…
Hebrews 8:8-13 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and w…
2 Kings 18:27 But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which…
Isaiah 18:3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a tru…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 8:1-7
The reproofs and threatenings here are introduced with an order to the prophet to set the trumpet to his mouth (Hos 8:1), thus to call a solemn assembly, that all might take notice of what he had to deliver and take warning by it. He must sound an alarm, must, in God's name, proclaim war with this rebellious nation. An enemy is coming with speed and fury to seize their land, and he must awaken them to expect it. Thus the prophet must do the part of a watchman, that was by sound of trumpet to call the besieged to stand to their arms, when he saw the besiegers making their attack, Eze 33:3. The prophet must lift up his voice like a trumpet (Isa 58:1), and the people must hearken to the sound o…
Set the trumpet to thy mouth - Sound another alarm. Let them know that an enemy is fast approaching.
As an eagle against the house of the Lord - of this be a prophecy against Judah, as some have supposed, then by the eagle Nebuchadnezzar is meant, who is often compared to this king of birds. See Eze 17:3; Jer 48:40; Jer 49:22; Dan 7:4.
But if the prophecy be against Israel, which is the most likely, then Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, is intended, who, for his rapidity, avarice, rapacity, and strength, is fitly compared to this royal bird. He is represented here as hovering over the house of God, as the eagle does over the prey which he has just espied, and on which he is immediately to pounc…
Set the trumpet to thy mouth,.... Or, "the trumpet to the roof of thy mouth" (t); a concise expression denoting haste, and the vehemence of the passions speaking; they are either the words of the Lord to the prophet, as the Targum,
"O prophet, cry with thy throat as with a trumpet, saying;''
Aben Ezra take them to be the words of the Lord the prophet, and the sense agrees with Isaiah 58:1. The prophet is here considered as a watchman, and is called upon to blow his trumpet; either to call the people together, "as an eagle to the house of the Lord" (u), as the next clause may be connected with this; that is, to come as swiftly to the house of the Lord, and hear what he had to say to them, a…
The Church Fathers
"Let the trumpet be in your throat, like an eagle over the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and violated my law." LXX: "In their bosom they are like the earth, like an eagle over the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and acted wickedly against my law." This which we have interpreted as "let the trumpet be in your throat," is what is written in Hebrew. Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have similarly translated it as Alechchac Sophar. Only the seventy said, "Like the earth in their bosom", and what this means is uncertain. For some people, bosom is understood in two ways: the lower part of the clothing from the genitals to the feet, or the gulf of the sea, that is, the bosom, for example, of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas and the Propontis, as well as the false teachers who followed the blasphemy of Egypt, keeping all things serving their lusts and earthly desires in their bosom; or indeed in the port and refuge of their navigation, nothing of precious merchandise, but acquiring earthly things. But we, following the Hebrew truth, weave the order of the begun explanation together. It is commanded to the prophet, and it is said to him: "Let the trumpet be in your throat," that is, so elevate your voice, as if it were like a trumpet: so that most may hear, because most have sinned. And when you have lifted up your voice, say this with a shout, like an eagle over the house of the Lord, and the meaning is: Nebuchadnezzar will come with his entire army so swiftly, so quickly, that it imitates the flight of an eagle, hastening to prey; and he will come not to another place, but to Jerusalem, where the temple of God is located, so that he may destroy and subvert it. Of this, the eagle and Ezekiel speaks more fully (Ezek. 17): the great wings, feathers, and talons, which have the direction of entering into Lebanon, that is, into the temple of God. According to the prophet Zachariah, in which it is written: "Open, Lebanon, thy gates, and let fire devour thy cedars" (Zach. 11: 1). But this, O prophet, what I tell you and command: "Let there be a trumpet in your throat," so that you may shout and say, like an eagle upon the house of the Lord, the king is coming of the Chaldeans, I order for no other reason, except that they have violated my covenant, and have left my ceremonies. We frequently read that the devil,…
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
Eagle · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Eagle, The · Illustrative: Of great and powerful kings — Illustrative: Of great and powerful kings
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 8:1
1. Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
1. Super palatum tuum tuba, tanquam aquila super domum Jehovae, [50] quia transgressi sunt foedus meum, et contra legem meam impie egerunt (vel, perfide segesserunt.)
Interpreters nearly all agree in this, that the Prophet threatens not the kingdom of Israel, but the kingdom of Judah, at the beginning of this chapter, because he names the house of God, which they take to be the temple. I indeed allow, that the Prophet has spoken already, in two places, of the kingdom of Judah, but as it were in passing. He has, it i…
The prophecy rises with a vigorous swing, as in Hos 5:8, to the prediction of judgment. Hos 5:1. "The trumpet to thy mouth! Like an eagle upon the house of Jehovah! Because they transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. Hos 5:2. To me will they cry: My God, we know Thee, we Israel!" The first sentence of Hos 5:1 is an exclamation, and therefore has no verb. The summons issues from Jehovah, as the suffixes in the last sentences show, and is addressed to the prophet, who is to blow the trumpet, as the herald of Jehovah, and give the people tidings of the approaching judgment (see at Hos 5:8). The second sentence gives the alarming message to be delivered: like an eagle comes the…
Sound the alarm: The ram’s horn trumpet (shofar) called the people to worship (Ps 98:6); it was also (as here) the signal for battle (2 Sam 20:1). God was sending an enemy, the Assyrians, to execute his judgment on Israel. • revolted against my law: God’s law (Hebrew torah) is much more than the sum of the individual laws in the Pentateuch. It represents the totality of God’s instruction to his people through his words and his deeds. Loving fulfillment of the Torah was Israel’s part of the covenant. They had broken God’s commandments, and they had turned aside from their covenant relationship with the Lord.
Rashi on Hosea 8:1
To your palate a shophar The Shechinah says to the prophet: Let the voice of your palate be heard, and call like a shophar, and say: You enemies! Fly and hasten as the eagle swoops and come to the house of the Lord. To your palate a shophar, it is as though a shophar is placed to your palate. [after Jonathan]
