Hosea 9:10
in Hosea 9I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to Shame; so they became as detestable as the thing they loved.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at its first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
KJV
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal–peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.
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This verse in Hosea 9
Commentary
10 notes on this verseI found Israel like grapes in the wilderness - While they were faithful, they were as acceptable to me as ripe grapes would be to a thirsty traveler in the desert. I saw your fathers - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, etc. As the first ripe - Those grapes, whose bud having come first, and being exposed most to the sun, have been the first ripe upon the tree; which tree was now in the vigor of youth, and bore fruit for the first time. A metaphor of the rising prosperity of the Jewish state.
This site's exposition
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness recalls the exodus generation as a discovery precious to God, sweet fruit found where none was expected, and the fig tree's firstripe fruit repeats the same image of a gift prized above the ordinary harvest. The turn is immediate and total, they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame, the incident of Numbers twenty-five where Israel joined itself to Moabite worship at the very edge of the promised land. The last clause states the principle plainly, their abominations were according as they loved, worship shaped by affection rather than command, so a people who loved a shameful thing became as shameful as what they loved.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"As I found grapes in the desert, I saw Israel, as the first figs of the fig tree in the top thereof: but they went in to Beelphegor, and alienated themselves to that confusion, and became abominable, as those things were which they loved." LXX: "As I found Israel in the desert like a grape, and as I saw their fathers like a fig tree's temporary figs, but they entered Baal Peor and became alienated in confusion and became abominable like their love."
Similarly, the law of the Old Testament, which we said the image of the fig tree represented, threw away the first Jewish people who were useless, that is, sinful and wicked. When these sycophants, to use the Greek word, had been rejected, that is, the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Every tribe is now as bad as the tribe of Benjamin then was, and therefore may expect to be brought as low as that tribe then was. They shall therefore be reckoned with for their fathers' sins: He will remember their iniquity and visit their sins, the iniquity they have by kind and by entail, the sin that runs in the blood; the sin of the father shall now be visited upon the children.
As the first-ripe - As the earliest ripe fruit of the fig-tree, which is most valued and desired. Separated themselves - Consecrated themselves to that shameful idol. Their abominations - Their idols, and way of worshipping them.
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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. Some expressions are here which describe that.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
As the traveller in a wilderness is delighted at finding grapes to quench his thirst, or the early fig (esteemed a great delicacy in the East, Isa 28:4;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness - God is not said to find anything, as though “He” had lost it, or knew not where it was, or came suddenly upon it, not expecting it. “They” were lost, as relates to Him, when they were found by Him. As our Lord says of the returned prodigal, “This my son was lost and is found” Luk 15:32. He “found” them and made them pleasant in His own sight, “as grapes which a man finds unexpectedly, in “a great terrible wilderness of fiery serpents and drought” Deu 8:15, where commonly nothing pleasant or refreshing grows; or “as the first ripe in the fig-tree at her fresh time,” whose sweetness passed into a proverb, both from its own freshness and from the long abstinence (see Isa 28:4). God gave to Israel both richness and pleasantness in His own sight; but Israel, from the first, corrupted God’s good gifts in them. This generation only did as their fathers. So Stephen, setting forth to the Jews how their fathers had rebelled against Moses, and persecuted the prophets, sums up; “as your fathers did, so do ye” Act 7:51. Each generation was filling up the measure of their fathers, until it was full; as the whole world is doing now Rev 14:15. But they went to Baal-Peor - “They,” the word is emphatic; these same persons to whom God showed such love, to whom He gave such gifts, “went.” They left God who called them, and “went” to the idol, which could not call them. Baal-Peor, as his name probably implies, was “the filthiest and foulest of the pagan gods.” It appears from the history of the daughters of Midian, that his worship consisted in deeds of shame Num. 25. And separated themselves unto that shame - that is, to Baal-Peor, “whose” name of “Baal, Lord,” he turns into “Bosheth, shame” . […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Like grapes in the desert Like grapes, which are precious in the desert, so did I love Israel.
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. 4 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
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כַּעֲנָבִ֣ים | kaanavim | like grapes | H6025 → | |
| בַּמִּדְבָּ֗ר | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
| מָצָ֙אתִי֙ | matzati | I found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| כְּבִכּוּרָ֤ה | kevikurah | like early fig[s] | H1063 → | |
| בִתְאֵנָה֙ | vitenah | on a fig tree | H8384 → | |
| בְּרֵ֣אשִׁיתָ֔הּ | bereshitah | at beginning its | H7225 → | |
| רָאִ֖יתִי | raiti | I saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶ֑ם | ʾavoteikhem | ancestors your | H1 → | |
| הֵ֜מָּה | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| בָּ֣אוּ | bau | they came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בַֽעַל־ | vaal- | Baal | H1187 → | |
| פְּע֗וֹר | peor | Peor | H1187 → | |
| וַיִּנָּֽזְרוּ֙ | vaiyinazeru | and they devoted themselves | H5144 → | |
| לַבֹּ֔שֶׁת | laboshet | to <the> shame | H1322 → | |
| וַיִּהְי֥וּ | vaiyihyu | and they were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| שִׁקּוּצִ֖ים | shikutzim | detestable things | H8251 → | |
| כְּאָהֳבָֽם׃ | keohovam | as loved they | H157 → | 211 times |
כַּעֲנָבִ֣יםlike grapes
kaanavimH6025 →
בַּמִּדְבָּ֗רin the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →270 times
מָצָ֙אתִי֙I found
matzatiH4672 →455 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
כְּבִכּוּרָ֤הlike early fig[s]
kevikurahH1063 →
בִתְאֵנָה֙on a fig tree
vitenahH8384 →
בְּרֵ֣אשִׁיתָ֔הּat beginning its
bereshitahH7225 →
רָאִ֖יתִיI saw
raitiH7200 →1300 times
אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶ֑םancestors your
ʾavoteikhemH1 →
הֵ֜מָּהthey
hemahH1992 →553 times
בָּ֣אוּthey came
bauH935 →2568 times
בַֽעַל־Baal
vaal-H1187 →
פְּע֗וֹרPeor
peorH1187 →
וַיִּנָּֽזְרוּ֙and they devoted themselves
vaiyinazeruH5144 →
לַבֹּ֔שֶׁתto <the> shame
laboshetH1322 →
וַיִּהְי֥וּand they were
vaiyihyuH1961 →3559 times
שִׁקּוּצִ֖יםdetestable things
shikutzimH8251 →
כְּאָהֳבָֽם׃as loved they
keohovamH157 →211 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
Micah 7:1Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.
it leads to
- Isaiah 28:4
The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest: Whoever sees it will take it in his hand…
- Isaiah 24:13
So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
- Isaiah 28:4
Through
Ezekiel 20:8But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:7
And I said to them: ‘Each of you must throw away the abominations before his eyes, and you must not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’
- Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
- Ezekiel 20:21
But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I…
- Ezekiel 5:13
And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD,…
- Ezekiel 7:8
Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you and vent My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.
- Ezekiel 20:7
Through
Jeremiah 11:13Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’
it leads to
- Jeremiah 2:28
But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O…
- Jeremiah 2:28
About Hosea
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 106; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 9:10-11; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.