Hosea 9:12
in Hosea 9Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, so that not a man shall be left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
KJV
Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
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This verse in Hosea 9
Commentary
10 notes on this verseNot a man left - There shall be a total extirpation of them. When I depart - To compleat their misery, I will depart from them. It is sad to lose our children, but sadder to lose our God.
This site's exposition
their glory shall fly away like a bird
on Hosea 9:11-14
Ephraim's glory is pictured flying away like a bird from three points at once, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception, a judgment reaching back before life even begins. Even children raised past infancy give no security, though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, and Ephraim's own pleasant planting, compared to Tyrus at the height of her prosperity, is said to bring forth children only to the murderer rather than to a future. The prophet's own prayer in verse fourteen matches the judgment's severity, give them, O Lord, a miscarrying womb and dry breasts, one of the harshest lines in the book, and the bench reads it as the prophet's grief voiced as intercession rather than as his own wish.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
God is not ashamed to take flesh from such members, for he framed these very members. Who tells us this? The Lord said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I dedicated you." If in fashioning me, therefore, he touched them and was not ashamed, was he ashamed in forming for himself the holy flesh, the veil of his Godhead? It is God who even now creates the babes in the womb, as it is written in Job, "Did you not pour me out as milk, and thicken me like cheese? With skin and flesh you clothed me, with bones and sinews knit me together." There is nothing corrupt in the human bodily frame unless one defiles it with adulteries and wantonness. He who formed Adam formed Eve also; and male and female were fashioned by the divine hands. None of the members of the body, as fashioned from the beginning, is corrupt. Let all heretics be silent who slander their bodies, or rather him who formed them. But let us be mindful of Paul's words: "Do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?" Again, the prophet has foretold in the person of Jesus, "my flesh is from them."
"Ephraim has flown away like a bird: their glory from birth and from the womb and from conception. Even if they bring up their children, I will make them childless in men. But woe to them when I depart from them. Ephraim, as I saw, was founded in Tyre in beauty, and Ephraim will bring their sons to the slayer."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles. The people of Israel are charged with spiritual adultery: O Israel! thou hast gone a whoring from thy God,
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:34w-of-52
): " Though they bring up their children to some maturity, though they escape the diseases and deaths which the infant age is liable to, and are thought to be reared past danger, yet will I bereave them (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+odd-straight-quotes
Though they bring up their children,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Even though they should rear their children, yet will I bereave them (the Ephraimites) of them (Job 27:14). woe . . . to them when I depart--Yet the ungodly in their madness desire God to depart from them (Job 21:14; At last they know to their cost how awful it is when God has departed (De 31:17;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Though they bring up their children - And were they even to have children, I would bereave them of them; for, when I depart from them, they shall have all manner of wretchedness and wo.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Though they bring up children - God had threatened to deprive them of children, in every stage before or at their birth. Now, beyond this, he tells them, as to those who should escape this sentence, he would bereave them of them, or make them childless. That there shall not be a man left - Literally, “from man.” The brief word may be filled up, as the English Version has done (by not infrequent an idiom): (1) “from there being a man;” or (2) “from” among “men;” as Samuel said to Agag (1Sa 15:33; add Pro 30:14), “as thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women;” or (3) “from” becoming “men,” i. e., from reaching man’s estate. The prophet, in any case, does not mcan absolute excision, for he says, “they shall be wanderers among the nations,” and had foretold, that they should abide, as they now are, and be converted in the end. But since their pride was in their numbers, he says, that these should be reduced in every stage from conception to ripened manhood. So God had forewarned Israel in the law, “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law - ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude” Deu 28:58, Deu 28:62. A sentence, felt the more by Ephraim, as being the head of the most powerful division of the people, and himself the largest portion of it. Yea - (literally, “for”) woe also unto them, when I depart from them This is, at once, the ground and the completion of their misery, its beginning and its end. God’s departure was the source of all evil to them; as He foretold them, “I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they shall say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?” Deu 31:17. But His departure was itself above all. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Ephraim, as I saw Tyre in its tranquility, enjoying royalty and wealth more than all the provinces, so did I see Ephraim, planted in a dwelling place. But Ephraim what recompense did he recompense Me?
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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | except | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יְגַדְּלוּ֙ | yegadelu | they will bring up | H1431 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנֵיהֶ֔ם | beneihem | children their | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וְשִׁכַּלְתִּ֖ים | veshikaltim | and I will bereave them | H7921 → | |
| מֵֽאָדָ֑ם | meadam | from everyone | H120 → | 551 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| גַם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| א֥וֹי | ʾo | woe! | H188 → | |
| לָהֶ֖ם | lahem | to them | ||
| בְּשׂוּרִ֥י | besuri | when depart I | H5493 → | 299 times |
| מֵהֶֽם׃ | mehem | from them |
כִּ֤יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אִם־except
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יְגַדְּלוּ֙they will bring up
yegadeluH1431 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּנֵיהֶ֔םchildren their
beneihemH1121 →4930 times
וְשִׁכַּלְתִּ֖יםand I will bereave them
veshikaltimH7921 →
מֵֽאָדָ֑םfrom everyone
meadamH120 →551 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
גַם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
א֥וֹיwoe!
ʾoH188 →
לָהֶ֖םto them
lahem
בְּשׂוּרִ֥יwhen depart I
besuriH5493 →299 times
מֵהֶֽם׃from them
mehem
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 9:16Ephraim is struck down; their root is withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay the darlings of their wombs.
it leads to
- Hosea 9:11–13
Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird, with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
- Hosea 9:11–13
Through
Deuteronomy 31:17On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them.…
it leads to
- Judges 6:13
“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the…
- Isaiah 8:17
I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.
- Psalms 104:29
When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.
- 2 Chronicles 15:2
So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him,…
- Numbers 14:42
Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you.
- Judges 6:13
Through
Job 27:14Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; and his offspring will never have enough food.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:41
You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity.
- Deuteronomy 28:41
Through
Deuteronomy 32:25Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 7:15
The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.
- Ezekiel 7:15
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); Cyril of Jerusalem, CATECHETICAL LECTURE 12:26; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 9:12; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.