Ephraim feeds on wind and chases the east wind, cutting deals with Assyria while shipping oil to Egypt. Against that restless diplomacy the chapter sets Jacob: grasping his brother's heel in the womb, wrestling at Peniel with power over the angel, weeping and making supplication, meeting God at Beth-el: 'Jehovah is his memorial name.' The application is direct: 'turn thou to thy God: keep kindness and justice, and wait for thy God continually.' Instead Ephraim is a merchant with false balances who says, 'I am become rich.' God, who brought them from Egypt and multiplied visions by the prophets, will make them dwell in tents again as in the feast days.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Hosea — Hosea overview

A. 1–6 Jacob wrestled with the angel — now turn to your God
B. 7–9 A merchant with false balances who loves to oppress
C. 10–14 Prophets sent, and Ephraim's bitter provocation

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Micah 63 verses
- Micah 6:2Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:
- Micah 6:8He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Micah 6:10Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?
- Read Micah 6 →
Hosea 82 verses
- Hosea 8:7For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
- Hosea 8:11Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.
- Read Hosea 8 →
Hosea 42 verses
- Hosea 4:1Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!
- Hosea 4:15Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
- Read Hosea 4 →
Hosea 111 verse
- Hosea 11:12Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.
- Read Hosea 11 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Ezekiel 171 verse
- Ezekiel 17:10Even if it is transplanted, will it flourish? Will it not completely wither when the east wind strikes? It will wither on the bed where it sprouted.’”
- Read Ezekiel 17 →
Isaiah 101 verse
- Isaiah 10:6I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
- Read Isaiah 10 →
Genesis 251 verse
- Genesis 25:26After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
- Read Genesis 25 →
Genesis 351 verse
- Genesis 35:15Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
- Read Genesis 35 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.