Hoseachapter 8
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Key verse
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
It stands in They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, verses 7 to 10.
The chapter
Chapter summary
'Set the trumpet to thy mouth': the alarm chapter. Israel has set up kings without God's counsel and made a calf of its own silver: the workman made it, and it is no God. The harvest law follows: 'they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind' (8:7), stalks with no ear, and if any ear, strangers eat it. Israel is already swallowed among the nations, 'a vessel wherein none delighteth,' hiring lovers among the empires. Ephraim multiplied altars. And they became altars for sinning. God wrote for him the ten thousand things of his law, 'they are counted as a strange thing.'
Context
Prophecy · Hosea · Hosea overview
The world behind this chapter
Hosea 8The history
The horn at the start is a ram's horn used as an air-raid siren. A watchman on a city wall or a hilltop blew it when troops were sighted, and every farmer in the valley knew to run for the walls. Opening a message with that sound told hearers what kind of message it was before a word was spoken.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The calf of Samaria is the state religion. Two centuries earlier the first Jeroboam had set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan so that northerners would not travel to Jerusalem to worship, and the shrines had operated ever since. Hosea's line, a craftsman made it, and it is not God, attacks the one institution that held the kingdom's identity together.
Hiring lovers among the nations describes literal payments. The Bible records Menahem of Israel handing Assyria a thousand talents of silver, raised by a levy on every wealthy man in the land, and Assyrian royal inscriptions independently list Menahem of Samaria among the kings who paid tribute. Israel really was buying friends by the ton.
The wild donkey wandering alone is a picture of the opposite policy, going off by itself, unowned and unprotected. Hosea uses both images because Israel kept trying both, and neither was covenant loyalty.
What it meant to them
They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind became proverb because it names something farmers understood instantly: what you put in the ground decides what comes out of it, and the harvest is always bigger than the sowing.
The most cutting charge is that Israel had multiplied altars for sinning. Religious activity was up. Building was up. And God says he wrote them the great things of his law and they were regarded as a strange thing, the book was there, and nobody read it.
Sources cited
- The Annals of Tiglath-Pileser III (royal inscriptions of Assyria)
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: The Minor Prophets
Where the chapter sits
Hosea 8 falls in The LORD's controversy with Israel (chapters 4–14). Oracles against the northern kingdom's idolatry, political faithlessness, and corruption, closing with the great call ‘O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God’ (14:1).
Before it: The marriage and the children, chapters 1–3.
The whole shape of Hosea→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. The calf of Samaria: a workman made it, it is no god
1. (vv. 1-3)
Hosea 8:1
"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.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 8:1-4patristic
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Hosea 8:1
“The trumpet to thy mouth! - So God bids the prophet Isaiah, “Cry aloud, spare not, llft up thy voice like a trumpet” Isa 58:1. The prophets, as watchmen, were set by God to give notice of His coming judgments Eze 33:3; Amo 3:6. As the sound of a war-trumpet would startle a sleeping people, so would God have the prophet’s warning burst upon their sleep of sin.”
Hosea 8:1
“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 is true, introduced some reproofs and threatening, but so that the distinction was quite clear; and we see that he now goes to the kingdom of Judah, but in the second verse, he names Israel, and yet continues his discourse.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Hosea 8:2
Israel shalt cry - The rapidity of the eagle’s flight is well imitated in the rapidity of the sentences in this place. My God, we know thee - The same sentiment, from the same sort of persons, under the same feelings, as that in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Mat 7:29: “Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? Then will I profess unto them, I never Knew You.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:2
"They will call upon me, (or 'They called upon me') my God, we have known you, Israel." LXX: "They called upon me (or 'They will call upon me'), God, we have known you." At the time of necessity and distress, when captivity will come, they will call upon me and say: "My God, we know you, Israel;" we who are called Israel, we know and recognize you, and we keep the ancient name of Jacob, which pleased you, so that we may be called Israel.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 8:1-4patristic
Hosea 8:3
“Israel--God repeats the name in opposition to their use of it (Ho 8:2). the thing that is good--JEROME translates, "God" who is good and doing good (Ps 119:68). He is the chief object rejected, but with Him also all that is good. the enemy shall pursue him--in just retribution from God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 8:3
"Israel has rejected the good, the enemy will pursue him." LXX: "because Israel has rejected the good; they persecuted the enemy." To which the Lord responds: "How can you be called Israel, when Israel has rejected the good, that is, the Lord God, whom Israel was named after? Therefore, because Israel has rejected the good, the enemy, that is, the Assyrian, will pursue him and capture him."
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 8:1-4patristic
Hosea 8:3
“But, if we make it to point at the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes by the king of Assyria, we must reckon it is the body of that people which as Israelites, to whom pertained the adoption, the glory, and the covenants, is here called the house of the Lord.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Set the trumpet to thy mouth: The trumpet call opens the chapter like a battle alarm, an eagle already circling over the house of the Lord because Israel has transgressed the covenant and trespassed the law. Israel still knows the right words, crying My God, we know thee, but the profession sits beside a life that has cast off the thing that is good, the gap between confession and conduct the chapter keeps returning to. The enemy who pursues him in verse three is the covenant's own built-in consequence rather than an arbitrary stroke, judgment following directly from what Israel has already rejected.
2. (vv. 4-6)
Hosea 8:4
“Israel set up Jeroboam and his successors, whereas God had appointed the house of David as the rightful kings of the whole nation. I knew it not--I approved it not (Ps 1:6). of . . . gold . . . idols-- (Ho 2:8; 13:2). that they may be cut off--that is, though warned of the consequences of idolatry, as it were with open eyes they rushed on their own destruction.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 8:4
“So they did when they revolted from their allegiance to the house of David, and set up Jeroboam, wherein, though they fulfilled God's secret counsel, yet they aimed not at his glory, nor consulted his oracle, nor applied to him by prayer for direction, nor had any regard to his providence, but were led by their own humour and hurried on by the impetus of their own passions.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 8:4
“They have set up kings, but not by me - Properly speaking, not one of the kings of Israel, from the defection of the ten tribes from the house of David, was the anointed or the Lord. I knew it not - It had not my approbation. In this sense the word know is frequently understood. That they may be cut off - That is, They shall be cut off in consequence of their idolatry.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hosea 8:5
Your calf has been cast away, Samaria. My fury is against them: how long will they be incapable of purity? Because he is also from Israel: the craftsman made it, and it is not a god: for the calf of Samaria shall become spider's webs." LXX: "Cast away your calf, Samaria: my wrath is kindled against them: how long will they be incapable of purity in Israel? And the craftsman made it, and it is not a god: because your calf, Samaria, was deceiving."
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 8:5-6patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:5
“They in trouble cry, How long will it be ere God return to us in a way of mercy? but they do not hear him ask, How long will it be ere they return to God in a way of duty? Here are some particular sins which they are charged with, are convicted of the folly of, and warned of the fatal consequences of, and for which God's anger is kindled against them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 8:6
“The workman made it; therefore it is not God - As God signifies the supreme eternal Good, the Creator and Upholder of all things, therefore the workman cannot make Him who made all things. This is an overwhelming argument against all idols. Nothing need be added. The workman has made them; therefore they are not God.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:6
“The calf they worshipped is here called the calf of Samaria, because it is probable that when Samaria, in Ahab's time, became the metropolis of the kingdom, a calf was set up there to be near the court, besides those at Dan and Bethel, or perhaps one of those was removed thither; for those that are for new gods will still be for newer.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
They have set up kings, but not by me: Kings and princes set up without the Lord's sanction is the political half of the indictment, the dynasty's own instability read here as a kind of idolatry, choosing rulers the way Israel had learned to choose gods. Silver and gold meant for honest use become idols instead, and the calf of Samaria receives the sharpest mockery in the book, the workman made it, therefore it is not God, an object unable to outlast its own maker's hands. The verdict lands hard, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces, and the bench reads the sentence at two levels together, the image smashed and the whole religious system it stood for coming down with it.
B. They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind
1. (vv. 7-8)
Hosea 8:7
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: standing stalk, there is no grain in it, it shall not make flour: and if it should make any, strangers would devour it. " LXX: "Because they have sown corruption, they shall reap a fall: a handful of corn hath not the beauty of ear; they shall yield no flour; and if it should yield, strangers shall devour it. " She compares the calf of Samaria with a spider's web: therefore she keeps the metaphor in the remaining parts, that what she called spider's webs, she compares with the wind, and the whirlwind, and standing stalks: and if they stand, having no grain; and if they make any flour, she says, it shall be devoured by others.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 8:7patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:7
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind - “They shall reap,” not merely as “they have sown,” but with an awful increase. They sowed folly and vanity, and shall reap, not merely emptiness and disappointment, but sudden, irresistible destruction. “They sowed the wind,” and, as one seed bringeth forth many, so the wind, “penn’d up,” as it were, in this destructive tillage, should “burst forth again, reinforced in strength, in mightier store and with great violence.” Thus they “reaped the whirlwind,” yea, (as the word means) “a mighty whirlwind”.”
Hosea 8:8
“Now shall they be among the Gentiles - They shall be carried into captivity, and there be as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure; one soiled, unclean, infectious, to be despised, abhorred, not used. The allusion is to a rotten, corrupted skin-bottle; a bottle made of goat, deer, or calf hide, still commonly used in Asia and Africa. Some of them are splendidly ornamented.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:8
"Israel has been devoured, now he has become like an unclean vessel among the nations." The Septuagint translated "unclean" as "useless," the rest likewise. The Hebrews call the unclean vessel, or useless, a chamber pot, which we usually use to receive and discard feces. This uncleanness is compared to idolaters and heretics who mix with the Gentiles, while not guarding the truth of God, and have become vessels of honor, turned into vessels of (( "Al." vas)) insult.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 8:8patristic
For they have sown the wind: , and they shall reap the whirlwind states the chapter's proverb for a policy built on nothing solid, sowing that returns violence rather than a harvest, since a stalk with no root gives no grain to gather. Even a surviving crop is claimed by strangers before Israel can eat it, foreign powers consuming what little the nation manages to produce. Verse eight widens the picture from field to nation, Israel swallowed up, now counted among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure, a people who once stood apart from the nations now indistinguishable from them and just as easily discarded.
2. (vv. 9-10)
Hosea 8:9
“They take a course by themselves, and the effect will be that, like a wild ass by himself, they will be the easier and surer prey to the lion. Note, Man is in nothing more like the wild ass's colt than in seeking for that succour and that satisfaction in the creature which are to be had in God only.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:9
“For they are gone up to Assyria - The ground of this their captivity is that wherein they placed their hope of safety. They shall be presently swallowed up; “for” they went to Asshur. The holy land being then honored by the spectral presence of God, all nations are said to “go up” to it. Now, since Israel forgetting God, their strength and their glory, went to the Assyrian for help, he is said to “go up” there, where he went as a suppliant.”
Hosea 8:10
“English Version gives good sense: They shall sorrow "a little" at the imposition of the tribute; God suspended yet the great judgment, namely, their deportation by Assyria. the burden of the king of princes--the tribute imposed on Israel (under Menahem) by the Assyrian king Pul, (2Ki 15:19-22), who had many "princes" under his sway (Isa 10:8).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim's diplomacy is pictured as a wild ass wandering alone toward Assyria, an animal without herd or master, and hiring lovers turns the marriage language of the book's opening chapters onto foreign policy itself, alliance treated as adultery. The nations Ephraim paid for protection become, in verse ten, the very peoples among whom the Lord will gather Israel for judgment instead of rescue. The burden of the king of princes points most naturally to Assyria's own emperor, whose tribute demands were themselves part of the sorrow Israel had purchased with her hired alliances, the price of borrowed safety finally coming due.
C. Many altars for sinning; Israel forgot his Maker
1. (vv. 11-13)
Hosea 8:11
“Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall indeed be unto him to sin - that is, they shall be proved to him to be so, by the punishment which they shall draw upon him. The prophet had first shown them their folly in forsaking God for the help of man; now he shows them the folly of attempting to “secure themselves by their great shew and pretences of religion and devotion in a false way.” God had appointed “one” altar at Jerusalem. There He willed the sacrifices to be offered, which He would accept.”
Hosea 8:12
“They are things that proclaim the greatness of the Law-maker, and things of great use and great importance to us; they are our life, and our eternal welfare depends upon our observance of them and obedience to them; they will make us great if we make a right use of them; and they are things which God will magnify and make honourable.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:12
“This is God’s complaint against Ephraim. It is no mean proof of his goodness, that he stoops to rebuke his erring creatures; it is a great argument of his gracious disposition, that he bows his head to notice terrestrial affairs.”
Hosea 8:13
“They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of Mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord accepteth them not - As they rejected God’s law, so God rejected their “sacrifices,” which were not offered according to His law. They, doubtless, thought much of their sacrifices; and this the prophet perhaps expresses by an intensive form ; “the sacrifices of My gifts, gifts,” as though they thought, that they were ever giving. God accounted such sacrifices, not being hallowed by the end for which He instituted them, as mere “flesh.” They “offered flesh” and “ate” it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:13
“How should he, when they did not offer their sacrifice upon that altar which alone sanctified the gift, and when they only sacrificed flesh, but not the spiritual sacrifice of a penitent believing heart? Note, Those services only are acceptable to God which are performed according to the rule of his word, and through Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. ii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin: Multiplied altars meant to atone for sin become, by their sheer number, altars unto sin, worship increased past what the law commanded and turned into the very offense it was meant to remove. The great things of the Lord's law were treated as a strange thing, a foreign document rather than Israel's own covenant, so the sacrifices offered afterward are flesh eaten for its own sake, not fellowship the Lord will accept. He will remember their iniquity and visit their sins, and the sentence given is a return to Egypt, the exodus reversed, the place of bondage waiting again for a people who had made themselves strangers to their own God.
2. (v. 14)
Hosea 8:14
“Israel hath forgotten his Maker - And therefore built temples to other gods. Judah had lost all confidence in the Divine protection, and therefore built many fenced cities. But the fire of God’s anger burnt up both the temples and the fortified cities.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 8:14
“They pretended to know him, and yet forgot him, for they liked not to retain God in their knowledge, when the remembrance of him would give check to their lusts. It was an aggravation of their sin in forgetting God that he was their Maker ( Deut. xxxii. 10 ), as nothing obliges us more to remember him than that he is our Creator, Eccl. xii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
For Israel hath forgotten his Maker: Israel hath forgotten his Maker names the chapter's root failure beneath every alliance and every altar, a people who no longer remember whose they are. Judah is not exempt, multiplying fenced cities for the same security Ephraim sought in Egypt and Assyria, trusting stone walls rather than the God both kingdoms had forgotten. The fire the Lord sends answers that trust directly, devouring the very palaces and defenses built to replace him.
This page carries no textual note on Hosea 8. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.