Hosea 12:2
in Hosea 12The LORD also brings a charge against Judah. He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Jehovah hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
KJV
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
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This verse in Hosea 12
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe Lord hath also a controversy with Judah - The rest of the prophecy belongs both to Judah and Israel. He reproaches both with their ingratitude, and threatens them with God’s anger. In order to make their infidelity the more hateful, and their malice the more sensible, he opposes to them the righteousness, obedience, and piety of their father Jacob. He recalls to their minds the benefits they had received since they returned from Egypt.
This site's exposition
feedeth on wind
on Hosea 12:1-2
Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind pictures a nation chasing what cannot nourish, the daily increase of lies and desolation running alongside a foreign policy played both ways at once, a covenant made with Assyria while oil is carried south as tribute to Egypt, trust split between two powers instead of resting in the Lord who alone had delivered them before. The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah extends the charge south, according to his doings will he recompense him stating the law of just recompense that governs the rest of the chapter's Jacob material.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The judgment therefore of the Lord with Judah: and a visitation upon Jacob. He will render to him according to his ways, and according to his inventions he will recompense him. In the womb he supplanted his brother: and in his strength he had success with the angel, and he prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened: he wept and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), threatening to punish them; but how shall I give them up? How shall that dear name be forgotten? Three glorious things concerning Jacob the person Jacob the people are here put in mind of; but by brief hints only, for it is presumed that they knew the story:-- (1.) His struggling with Esau in the womb: There he took his brother by the heel,
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The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah,....
So here; though the seed of Jacob are a people near to God, yet God will punish them according to the evil ways they are found in and the evil doings they are found guilty of; for God sees sin even in his own people, and will reckon with them for it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Judah, under Ahaz, had fallen into idolatry (2Ki 16:3, &c.). Jacob--that is, the ten tribes. If Judah, the favored portion of the nation, shall not be spared, much less degenerate Israel.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob - The guilt of Judah was not open apostasy, nor had he filled up the measure of his sins. Of him, then, God saith only, that He “had a controversy with” him, as our Lord says to the “Angel of the Church of Pergamos, I have a few things against thee. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and fight against thee with the sword of My mouth” Rev 2:12, Rev 2:16. Of Ephraim, whose sin was complete, He says, that the Lord “is to punish.” God had set His mind, as we say, on punishing him; He had (so to speak) set Himself to do it. Jacob, like Israel, is here the name for the chief part of Israel, i. e., the ten tribes. Our Lord uses the same gradation in speaking of different degrees of evil-speaking; “Whosoever of you is angry without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire” Mat 5:22. : “The justice of God falls more severely on those who degenerate from a holy parent, than on those who have no incitement to good from the piety of their home.” To amplify this , “The prophet explains what good things Jacob received, to show both the mercy of God to Jacob, and the hardness of Ephraim toward God. While Jacob was yet in his mother’s womb, he took his brother by the heel, not by any strength of his own, but by the mercy of God, who knows and loves those whom he hath predestinated.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
has surrounded Me Ephraim and the house of Israel have already surrounded Me with lies and deceit, i.e., the kings of the Ten Tribes and all the people, but Judah still.. rules with God Still rules with fear of God. rules Heb. רָד. Comp.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְרִ֥יב | veriv | and a case at law | H7379 → | |
| לַֽיהוָ֖ה | layahweh | [belongs] to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| יְהוּדָ֑ה | yehudah | Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| וְלִפְקֹ֤ד | velifkod | and to visit [judgment] | H6485 → | 303 times |
| עַֽל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יַעֲקֹב֙ | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| כִּדְרָכָ֔יו | kidrakhav | according to ways his | H1870 → | 707 times |
| כְּמַעֲלָלָ֖יו | kemaalalav | according to deeds his | H4611 → | 41 times |
| יָשִׁ֥יב | yashiv | he will repay | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | to him |
וְרִ֥יבand a case at law
verivH7379 →
לַֽיהוָ֖ה[belongs] to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
יְהוּדָ֑הJudah
yehudahH3063 →819 times
וְלִפְקֹ֤דand to visit [judgment]
velifkodH6485 →303 times
עַֽל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יַעֲקֹב֙Jacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
כִּדְרָכָ֔יוaccording to ways his
kidrakhavH1870 →707 times
כְּמַעֲלָלָ֖יוaccording to deeds his
kemaalalavH4611 →41 times
יָשִׁ֥יבhe will repay
yashivH7725 →1056 times
לֽוֹ׃to him
lo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
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…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:22
“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Micah 6:2
Hear, 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:
- 1 Corinthians 15:34
Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.
- Isaiah 3:13–14
The LORD arises to contend; He stands to judge the people.
- Jeremiah 4:22
Through
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:
it leads to
- Hosea 4:1
Hear 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…
- Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
- Psalms 104:5
He set the earth on its foundations, never to be moved.
- Hosea 4:1
Through
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…
it leads to
- Isaiah 9:17
Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite…
- Isaiah 9:17
Where this verse is studied
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About Hosea
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 12:2-6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.