Hosea 8:3
in Hosea 8But Israel has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Israel hath cast off that which is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
KJV
Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
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This verse in Hosea 8
Commentary
6 notes on this verse"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."
This site's exposition
Set the trumpet to thy mouth
on Hosea 8:1-3
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.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
Israel hath cast off the thing that is good,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Israel has cast off the thing that is good - Or (since the word means “to cast off with abhorrence” “Israel hath east off and abhorred Good,” both “Him who is Good” and “that which is good.” The word “tob” includes both. They rejected good in rejecting God , “Who is simply, supremely, wholly, universally good, and good to all, the Author and Fountain of all good, so that there is nothing simply good but God; nothing worthy of that title, except in respect of its relation to Him who is “good and doining good” Psa 119:
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זָנַ֥ח | zanach | it has rejected | H2186 → | |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| ט֑וֹב | tov | good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| אוֹיֵ֖ב | ʾoyev | an enemy | H341 → | |
| יִרְדְּֽפוֹ׃ | yirdefov | he will pursue him | H7291 → | 143 times |
זָנַ֥חit has rejected
zanachH2186 →
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
ט֑וֹבgood
tovH2896 →538 times
אוֹיֵ֖בan enemy
ʾoyevH341 →
יִרְדְּֽפוֹ׃he will pursue him
yirdefovH7291 →143 times
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
Amos 1:11This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 25:12–14
This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,
- Numbers 20:14–21
From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to tell the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has befallen us,
- 2 Chronicles 28:17
The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away captives.
- Joel 3:19
Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
- Psalms 137:7
Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
- Ezekiel 25:12–14
Through
Leviticus 26:36As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 21:7
And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you are to say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and…
- Isaiah 30:17
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a…
- Ezekiel 21:7
Through
Psalms 36:3The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
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.”
- Jeremiah 4:22
About Hosea
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 8:1-4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.