Hosea 8:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hosea 8:13
They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
flesh
בָשָׂר֙va.Sar
H1320
flesh (from its freshness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sacrifices
זִבְחֵ֣יziv.Chei
H2077
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct
offerings
הַבְהָבַ֗יhav.ha.Vai
H1890
gift (in sacrifice) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 1st person masculine singular
eat
וַיֹּאכֵ֔לוּvai.yo.Khe.lu
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
accepteth
רָצָ֑םra.Tzam
H7521
to be pleased with · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
remember
יִזְכֹּ֤רyiz.Kor
H2142
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
iniquity
עֲוֹנָם֙'a.vo.Nam
H5771
perversity · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
visit
וְיִפְקֹ֣דve.yif.Kod
H6485
to visit (with friendly or hostile intent) · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine singular
sins
חַטֹּאותָ֔םcha.to.Tam
H2403
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
return
יָשֽׁוּבוּya.Shu.vu
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Egypt
מִצְרַ֥יִםmitz.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
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…
Hosea 9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
Amos 5:22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat be…
Amos 8:7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Deuteronomy 28:68 And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there…
Isaiah 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed be…
Jeremiah 14:10 Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 8:8–end
It was the honour and happiness of Israel that they had but one God to trust to and he all-sufficient in every strait, and but one God to serve, and he well worthy of all their devotions. But it was their sin, and folly, and shame, that they knew not when they were well off, that they forsook their own mercies for lying vanities; for,
I. They multiplied their alliances (Hos 8:9): They have hired lovers, or (as the margin reads it) they have hired loves. They were at great expense to purchase the friendship of the nations about them, that otherwise had no value nor affection at all for them, nor cared for having any thing to do with them but only upon the Shechemites' principles - Shall not t…
sacrifices of mine offerings--that is, which they offer to Me.
eat it--Their own carnal gratification is the object which they seek, not My honor.
now--that is, "speedily."
shall return to Egypt-- (Hos 9:3, Hos 9:6; Hos 11:11). The same threat as in Deu 28:68. They fled thither to escape from the Assyrians (compare as to Judah, Jer. 42:1-44:30), when these latter had overthrown their nation. But see on Hos 9:3.
Adam Clarke on Hosea 8:13
They sacrifice flesh - Bp. Newcome translates thus: "They sacrifice gifts appointed unto me, and eat flesh." They offer to their idols the things which belong to Jehovah; or, while pretending to offer unto the Lord, they eat and drink idolatrously; and therefore the Lord will not accept them.
They shall return to Egypt - Many of them did return to Egypt after the conquest of Palestine by Shalmaneser, and many after the ruin of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; but they had in effect returned to Egypt by setting up the worship of the golden calves, which were in imitation of the Egyptian Apis.
John Gill on Hosea 8:13
They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings,
and eat it,.... Or, "as to the sacrifices mine offerings" or "gifts, they sacrifice flesh, and eat it" (o); these sacrifices, which, according to the law, should given to God when they offered them, they did not give them to him, they took them to themselves, and ate them; they were carnal offerings, and offered with a carnal mind, without faith and piety, without any regard to the glory of God, but merely for the sake of caring: the Targum interprets it of sacrifices got by rapine, which God hates, Isaiah 61:8;
but the Lord accepteth them not; neither the sacrifices, nor the sacrificers, but despised and abhorred them; no sacrific…
The Church Fathers
"Now their iniquities will be remembered, and their sins will be punished: they themselves will be turned into Egypt, and Israel, their maker, has forgotten them, and has built shrines, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities, and I will send a fire into its cities, and it will devour their houses." LXX: "Now their iniquities will be remembered, and their injustices will be avenged. They themselves turned into Egypt, and forgot him who made them, and they built shrines, and Judah multiplied fortified cities, and I will send fire into their cities, and it will devour their foundations." Between lawlessness, which means "iniquity and sin," this is the difference: iniquity is before the law, sin is after the law, and those who persist in their sins will be remembered for their iniquities committed before the law by the Lord. However, their sins will not be remembered, but vengeance will be taken. Therefore, he will remember the iniquity of the ancients, and will visit the former sins: because they returned to Egypt, either asking for help, or worshipping the same gods in which they had previously erred, ἄπιν and μνεῦιν. For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built shrines on high hills, and under shady trees, consecrating to Baal and Astarte, and to other idols as well. Judah also, understanding that Israel had turned away from the love of God, and that their sins had been visited upon them, did not turn back to the Lord, but instead relied on fortified cities, which the Lord said He would destroy, devouring them down to their foundations. "His," no doubt, means Judah ("Al." Judah): though some read the foundations of "those," that is, cities, instead of "his." According to the spiritual sense, however, iniquities, that is, ἀνομίαι and ἀδικίαι, are called those which we committed before baptism, and which were forgiven us in baptism; but sins that we committed after baptism, concerning which it is written in the psalm, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered" (Ps. XXXI). All of which shall be imputed to the heretics, so that both their ancient iniquities and their new sins may be accounted for. For those who had left Egypt by confessing Christ, they returned to perfidy in Egypt. Israel has forgotten its maker, and rejecting its Creator, has devised another master for itself. Judas also, that is, the Ecclesiastical man, in…
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
Calves Of Jeroboam · Predictions respecting: Punishment of the worshippers — Predictions respecting: Punishment of the worshippers
Egypt · .Prophecies against — .Prophecies against
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Sacrifices · The Jews: Unaccepted in, on account of sin — The Jews: Unaccepted in, on account of sin
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 8:13
13. They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
13. Sacrificia holocaustorum meorum immolant carnem, et comedunt: Jehova gratum non habebit; nunc recordabitur iniquitatis eorum, visitabit scelus ipsorum; ipsi Aegyptum revertantur.
Interpreters think that the Israelites are here derided because they trusted in their own ceremonies, and that their sacrifices are reproachfully called flesh. But we must see whether the words of the Prophet contain something deeper. For the word hvhv, ebeb, some rightly expound, in my judgment, as meaning…
"Slain-offerings for gifts they sacrifice; flesh, and eat: Jehovah has no pleasure in them: now will He remember their transgression, and visit their sins: they will return to Egypt. Hos 8:14. And Israel forgot its Creator, and built palaces: and Judah multiplied fortified cities: and I shall send fire into its cities, and it will devour its castles." With the multiplication of the altars they increased the number of the sacrifices. הבהבי is a noun in the plural with the suffix, and is formed from יהב by reduplication. The slain-offerings of my sacrificial gifts, equivalent to the gifts of slain-offerings presented to me continually, they sacrifice as flesh, and eat it; that is to say, they…
I do not accept their sacrifices: See 6:6; Isa 1:10-17; Amos 5:21-24; Mic 6:6-8. • They will return to Egypt, the place of slavery (Deut 28:68). God’s dealings with Israel did not end with judgment. The divine purpose of judgment was to restore Israel to the status they had when they came out of Egypt, so that they could experience a new beginning (see Hos 2:14-15).
Rashi on Hosea 8:13
As for the sacrifices they burn before Me Heb. זִבְחֵי הַבְהָבַי. The sacrifice of My burnt offerings that they scorch in the fire which is upon My altar.
let them slaughter the flesh and eat [it] Why do I need them to bring them? Let them slaughter so that they have flesh to eat and eat them, for I do not desire them.