Hosea 9:6
in Hosea 9For even if they flee destruction, Egypt will gather them and Memphis will bury them. Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles, and thorns will overrun their tents.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For, lo, they are gone away from destruction; yet Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Hosea 9
Commentary
8 notes on this verseFor, lo, they are gone - Many of them fled to Egypt to avoid the destruction; but they went there only to die. Memphis - Now Cairo, or Kahira, found them graves. The pleasant places for their silver - The fine estates or villas which they had purchased by their money, being now neglected and uninhabited, are covered with nettles; and even in their tabernacles, thorns and brambles of different kinds grow. These are the fullest marks of utter desolation.
This site's exposition
What will ye do in the solemn day
on Hosea 9:5-6
What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord asks a question with no answer available, since exile will strip Israel of the very land, temple and calendar the feasts depended on. Verse six answers with the mechanics of the coming disaster, Egypt gathering up the fugitives and Memphis burying the dead, foreign soil becoming Israel's cemetery rather than her ally. The pleasant places once filled with hoarded silver are left to nettles and thorns, wealth and worship both reclaimed by wilderness, the reversal of every blessing named in the law.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"What will you do on the solemn day, on the day of the Lord's festival? For behold, they have gone forth from desolation: Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them: the desirable silver of them, the nettle shall inherit, the burdock shall be in their tabernacles." LXX: "What will you do on the day of the assembly and on the day of the solemnity of the Lord? Therefore, behold they shall go from the misery of Egypt, and Memphis shall receive them, and Machmas shall bury them; their silver shall possess destruction, thorns shall be in their tabernacles."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
11 ), graves for them; for Egypt shall gather them up, as dead men are gathered up and carried forth to the grave, and Memphis (one of the chief cities of Egypt) shall bury them. Gathering and burying are put together, Jer. viii. Note, Those that think presumptuously to flee from the judgments of God are likely enough to meet their death where they hoped to save their lives.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
They are gone - Some are already withdrawn from the desolation that cometh. Egypt - In Egypt they hope to be quiet and survive these desolations, but they shall die in Egypt.
For, lo, they are gone, because of destruction,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Egypt shall gather them up--that is, into its sepulchres (Jer 8:2; Instead of returning to Palestine, they should die in Egypt. Memphis--famed as a necropolis. the pleasant places for their silver--that is, their desired treasuries for their money.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
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
For lo, they are gone because of destruction - They had fled, for fear of destruction, to destruction. For fear of the destruction from Assyria, they were fled away and gone to Egypt, hoping, doubtless, to find there some temporary refuge, until the Assyrian invasion should have swept by. But, as befalls those who flee from God, they fell into more certain destruction. Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them - They had fled singly, in making their escape from the Assyrian. Egypt shall receive them, and shall gather them together, but only to one common burial, so that none should escape. So Jeremiah says, “They shall not be gathered nor buried” Jer 8:2; and Ezekiel, “Thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered” Eze 29:5. “Memphis” is the Greek name for the Egyptian “Mamphta,” whence the Hebrew “Moph” ; or “Manuph,” whence the Hebrew “Noph” (Isa 19:13; Jer 2:16; Jer 44:1; Jer 46:14; Eze 30:13 ff). It was at this time the capital of Egypt, whose idols God threatens . Its name, “the dwelling of Phta,” the Greek Vulcan, marked it, as a seat of idolatry; and in it was the celebrated court of Apis , the original of Jeroboam’s calf. There in the home of the idol for whom they forsook their God, they should be gathered to burial. It was reputed to be the burial-place of Osiris, and hence, was a favorite burial-place of the Egyptians. It once embraced a circuit of almost 19 miles , with magnificent buildings; it declined after the building of Alexandria; its very ruins gradually perished, after Cairo rose in its neighborhood. The pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them - The English margin gives the same sense in different words; “their silver shall be desired; (as Obadiah saith, “his hidden treasures were searched out) nettles shall inherit them” Oba 1:6. In either way, it is a picture of utter desolation. […]
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הִנֵּ֤ה | hineh | there! | H2009 → | |
| הָֽלְכוּ֙ | halekhu | they have gone | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| מִשֹּׁ֔ד | mishod | from [the] devastation | H7701 → | 25 times |
| מִצְרַ֥יִם | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| תְּקַבְּצֵ֖ם | tekabetzem | it will gather them | H6908 → | 127 times |
| מֹ֣ף | mof | Memphis | H4644 → | |
| תְּקַבְּרֵ֑ם | tekaberem | it will bury them | H6912 → | |
| מַחְמַ֣ד | machmad | treasure | H4261 → | |
| לְכַסְפָּ֗ם | lekhaspam | of silver their | H3701 → | 403 times |
| קִמּוֹשׂ֙ | kimos | nettle[s] | H7057 → | |
| יִֽירָשֵׁ֔ם | yirashem | it will take possession of them | H3423 → | |
| ח֖וֹחַ | choach | thorn[s] | H2336 → | |
| בְּאָהֳלֵיהֶֽם׃ | beoholeihem | [will be] in tents their | H168 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
הִנֵּ֤הthere!
hinehH2009 →
הָֽלְכוּ֙they have gone
halekhuH1980 →1546 times
מִשֹּׁ֔דfrom [the] devastation
mishodH7701 →25 times
מִצְרַ֥יִםEgypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 times
תְּקַבְּצֵ֖םit will gather them
tekabetzemH6908 →127 times
מֹ֣ףMemphis
mofH4644 →
תְּקַבְּרֵ֑םit will bury them
tekaberemH6912 →
מַחְמַ֣דtreasure
machmadH4261 →
לְכַסְפָּ֗םof silver their
lekhaspamH3701 →403 times
קִמּוֹשׂ֙nettle[s]
kimosH7057 →
יִֽירָשֵׁ֔םit will take possession of them
yirashemH3423 →
ח֖וֹחַthorn[s]
choachH2336 →
בְּאָהֳלֵיהֶֽם׃[will be] in tents their
beoholeihemH168 →
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 10:8The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall…
it leads to
- Revelation 6:16
And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.
- Luke 23:30
At that time ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
- Isaiah 2:19
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
- 1 Kings 12:28–30
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out…
- Revelation 6:16
Through
Hosea 7:16They turn, but not to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the cursing of their tongue; for this they will be ridiculed in…
it leads to
- Psalms 78:57
They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.
- Hosea 9:3
They will not remain in the land of the LORD; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
- Psalms 78:57
Through
Isaiah 5:6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 7:23–25
And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.
- Isaiah 7:23–25
Through
Hosea 8:13Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to…
it leads to
- Hosea 9:9
They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.
- Hosea 9:9
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); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 9:5-6; 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.