to give · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
give
תִּתֵּ֑ןti.Ten
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
give
תֵּןten-
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
miscarrying
מַשְׁכִּ֔ילmash.Kil
H7921
properly · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
womb
רֶ֣חֶםRe.chem
H7358
the womb · noun, common masculine singular absolute
dry
צֹמְקִֽיםtzo.me.Kim
H6784
to dry up · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
breasts
וְשָׁדַ֖יִםve.sha.Da.yim
H7699
the breast of a woman or animal (as bulging) · conjunction + noun, common masculine dual 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
Luke 23:29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which nev…
Luke 21:23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath u…
1 Corinthians 7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
Job 21:10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
Hosea 9:11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
Hosea 9:13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.
Hosea 9:16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit o…
Matthew 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 9:11–end
In the foregoing verses we saw the sin of Israel derived from their fathers; here we see the punishment of Israel derived to their children; for, as death entered by sin at first, so it is still entailed with it. We may observe, in these verses,
I. The sin of Ephraim. Some expressions are here which describe that. 1. They did not hearken to God (Hos 9:17); they did not give attention to the voice either of his word or of his rod; they did not believe what he said, nor would they be ruled by him. He told them their duty, their interest, their danger, but they regarded him not; all he said to them by his words and by his prophets was to them as a tale that is told; and then no wonder that we h…
what wilt thou give?--As if overwhelmed by feeling, he deliberates with God what is most desirable.
give . . . a miscarrying womb--Of two evils he chooses the least. So great will be the calamity, that barrenness will be a blessing, though usually counted a great misfortune (Job 3:3; Jer 20:14; Luk 23:29).
Adam Clarke on Hosea 9:14
Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? - There is an uncommon beauty in these words. The prophet, seeing the evils that were likely to fall upon his countrymen, begins to make intercession for them; but when he had formed the first part of his petition, "Give them, O Lord!" the prophetic light discovered to him that the petition would not be answered and that God was about to give them something widely different. Then changing his petition, which the Divine Spirit had interrupted, by signifying that he must not proceed in his request, he asks the question, then, "What wilt thou give them?" and the answer is, "Give them a miscarrying womb, and dry breasts." And this he is commanded to announ…
Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give them?.... The prophet foreseeing the butchery and destruction of their children, his heart ached for them; and, to show his tender affection for this people, was desirous of putting up a supplication for them; but was at a loss what to ask, their sins were so many, and so aggravated, and the decree gone forth for their destruction: or, "give them what thou wilt give them" (l); so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, what thou hast threatened before to give them, Hosea 9:11; do not give them to be butchered and murdered before the eyes of their parents by their enemies; but rather let them die in the womb, or as soon as born; so it follows:
give them a miscar…
The Church Fathers
"Give them, Lord: what will you give them? Give them a womb without children" (Vulg. "sons"), and dry breasts" LXX similarly. If we abuse those things which God gave us for a blessing and they are turned to the opposite of why they were given, it is better for them to be taken away from us. Finally, the tongue was given to praise the Lord God and to speak good things: If anyone misuses it in blasphemy, the Psalmist prays to the Lord against him: "Let deceitful lips be made dumb, that speak against the just with pride and abuse" (Ps. XXX, 19). And in another place: "May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaks high things" (Psalm XI, 4). Therefore, since Ephraim boasted in the womb, and in conception, and in birth, and in the multitude of peoples, the Prophet prays to the Lord and says: "Give them, O Lord." And he himself answers: "What will you give them?" and immediately adds: "Give them a barren womb, and dry breasts," so that they would have no reason for pride and may be confounded in that which they used to glory. It is clear that even teachers with contrary doctrines can be understood, who boast in the multitude of people and in those children whom they have raised to destruction, that they might lead them out of the Church and into the midst of the slayer. For as many children as heretics have produced in error, the devil has killed. Of such a soul it is said: "Blessed is the chaste woman, who has not known the bed of sin." (Wisdom 3:12) For the Ecclesiastic man is blessed, who in comparison with a heretic, does not beget children in error. And in another place we read, 'It is better to not have children with virtue. For from an unlawful union, offspring will perish' (Wisdom 4 and 3, sec. 70): and when they have been long gone, they will be considered as nothing and ignoble in their final old age. For the fecund multitude of the impious is unto nothing; for we should not consider it, that he has prayed bodily for a sterile womb and drying breasts.
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
Abortion · As a — As a
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 9:14
14. Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
14. Da illis, Jehova: quid dabis? Da illis valvam abortientem (vel, interficere facientem) et ubera arida.
Interpreters translate these words in a different way: "Give them what thou art about to give," then they repeats "Give them;" but, as I think, they do not comprehend the design of the Prophet, and are wholly mistaken; for the Prophet appears here as one anxious and perplexed. He therefore presents himself here before God as a suppliant, as though he said, "Lord, I would gladly intercede for this people: what then is it that I should chiefly desire for them? Doubtless my chief wish fo…
The vanishing of the glory of Ephraim is carried out still further in what follows. Hos 9:13. "Ephraim as I selected it for a Tyre planted in the valley; so shall Ephraim lead out its sons to the murderer. Hos 9:14. Give them, O Jehovah: what shalt Thou give him? Give them a childless womb and dry breasts." In Hos 9:13 Ephraim is the object to ראיתי (I have seen), but on account of the emphasis it is placed first, as in Hos 9:11; and ראה with an accusative and ל dna evi signifies to select anything for a purpose, as in Gen 22:8. The Lord had selected Ephraim for Himself to be a Tyre planted in the meadow, i.e., in a soil adapted for growth and prosperity, had intended for it the bloom and gl…
for slaughter: Rather than gaining them more children, the Israelites’ idolatry would backfire, resulting in their children’s deaths.
Rashi on Hosea 9:14
Give them, O Lord, what You will give The prophet prays that they should die when young, for the mourning for a child is not as bad as the mourning for an adult. Therefore, if it is impossible that they die from birth, from the womb, or from conception, for it was already decreed from the Creation of the world, (Gen. 3: l6) “And to your husband shall be your longing,” give them quickly in their childhood what you say to give to them after a time, for You said, “For, if they raise their children. I will bereave them.” [from Pesikta Rabbathi 45:3]
give them a bereaving womb When they emerge into the world (lit. the air of the world), let them die or let their mother’s breasts dry up so that t…
