Hosea 9:16
in Hosea 9Ephraim is struck down; their root is withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay the darlings of their wombs.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.
KJV
Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.
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This verse in Hosea 9
Commentary
9 notes on this verseEphraim is smitten - The thing being determined, it is considered as already done. Their root is dried up - They shall never more be a kingdom. And they never had any political form from their captivity by the Assyrians to the present day. Yea, though they bring forth - See the note on Hos 9:11-12 (note).
This site's exposition
All their wickedness is in Gilgal
on Hosea 9:15-17
All their wickedness is in Gilgal names the site where Saul was made king, which the bench reads as marking where Israel's monarchy first began drifting from obedience, so the Lord's hatred there is dated to a specific historical wound rather than a vague general charge. I will love them no more answers Hosea's own children's names from chapter one, Lo-ruhamah's withheld mercy spoken again here in the Lord's own voice against a nation that will not turn. The chapter closes on Ephraim smitten, root dried up, no fruit, and the final verdict, my God will cast them away, and they shall be wanderers among the nations, a sentence the bench connects to the covenant curses of Deuteronomy twenty-eight finally falling due.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Ephraim is struck: their root has dried up, they will bear no fruit. Even if they do, I will kill the beloved offspring of their womb. My God will reject them because they did not listen to him, and they will wander among the nations." LXX: "Ephraim grieves over his roots: they are withered, and bear no fruit, and even if they give birth, I will kill the cherished offspring of their wombs. God will reject them because they have not listened to him, and they will wander among the nations."
The Puritans and the Awakening4 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
If the root be dried, the branch must wither of course. Observe, (1.) God's threatening this judgment of the destroying of their children. [1.] They shall perish of themselves by the immediate hand of God (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Chaldee-paraphrase, and many of the rabbin, by the murderers to whom the children were brought forth, understand those that sacrificed their children to Moloch, a sin which was its own punishment, which showed the parents void of bowels and justly left them void of blessings. [3.] Those few that escape and remain shall be dispersed (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Ephraim is smitten,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The figures "root," "fruit," are suggested by the word "Ephraim," that is, fruitful (see on Ho 9:11, 12). "Smitten," namely, with a blight (Ps 102:4).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Ephraim is smitten - The prophet, under the image of a tree, repeats the same sentence of God upon Israel. The word “smitten” is used of the smiting of the tree from above, especially by the visitation of God, as by “blasting” and “mildew” Amo 4:9. Yet such smiting, although it falls heavily for the time, leaves hope for the future. He adds then, “their root is” also “withered,” so that “they should bear no fruit;” or if, perchance, while the root was still drying up and not quite dead, any fruit he yet found, “yet will I slay,” God says, “the beloved,” fruit “of their womb,” the desired fruit of their bodies, that which their souls longed for. : “So long as they have children, and multiply the fruit of the womb, they think that they bear fruit, they deem not that “their root is dried,” or that they have been severed by the axe of excision, and “rooted out of the land of the living;” but, in the anguish at the “slaying” of those they most loved, they shall say, better had it been to have had no children.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֻכָּ֣ה | hukah | he has been struck | H5221 → | 499 times |
| אֶפְרַ֔יִם | ʾefrayim | Ephraim | H669 → | 180 times |
| שָׁרְשָׁ֥ם | sharesham | root their | H8328 → | |
| יָבֵ֖שׁ | yavesh | it has dried up | H3001 → | |
| פְּרִ֣י | peri | fruit | H6529 → | 119 times |
| בַֽל | veli- | not | H1077 → | |
| יַעֲשׂ֑וּן | yaasun | they will produce ! | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| גַּ֚ם | gam | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יֵֽלֵד֔וּן | yeledun | they [masc] will give birth ! | H3205 → | 496 times |
| וְהֵמַתִּ֖י | vehemati | and I will put to death | H4191 → | 839 times |
| מַחֲמַדֵּ֥י | machamadei | [the] precious things of | H4261 → | |
| בִטְנָֽם׃ ס | vitnam | [masc] womb their | H990 → | 72 times |
הֻכָּ֣הhe has been struck
hukahH5221 →499 times
אֶפְרַ֔יִםEphraim
ʾefrayimH669 →180 times
שָׁרְשָׁ֥םroot their
shareshamH8328 →
יָבֵ֖שׁit has dried up
yaveshH3001 →
פְּרִ֣יfruit
periH6529 →119 times
בַֽלnot
veli-H1077 →
יַעֲשׂ֑וּןthey will produce !
yaasunH6213 →2628 times
גַּ֚םalso
gamH1571 →769 times
כִּ֣יif
kiH3588 →4482 times
יֵֽלֵד֔וּןthey [masc] will give birth !
yeledunH3205 →496 times
וְהֵמַתִּ֖יand I will put to death
vehematiH4191 →839 times
מַחֲמַדֵּ֥י[the] precious things of
machamadeiH4261 →
בִטְנָֽם׃ ס[masc] womb their
vitnamH990 →72 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
Malachi 4:1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
it leads to
- Isaiah 47:14
Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- 2 Peter 3:7
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Malachi 3:2
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
- Isaiah 5:24
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected…
- Isaiah 47:14
Through
Hosea 8:7For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
it leads to
- Proverbs 22:8
He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Job 4:8
As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
- Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Proverbs 22:8
About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 9:16-17; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.