Hosea 8:7

Hosea 8:7 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
• New International Version (NIV)“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; It shall never produce meal. If it should produce, Aliens would swallow it up.

Context of Hosea 8:7

5People of Samaria, you have made an image of a calf as your idol. But I hate that idol! I am very angry with the Israelites. How much longer will it be before I have to punish them? 6That idol is not a true god! An Israelite worker with special skills made it. Samaria's idol of a calf will break into pieces! Like a farmer, Israel's people have planted the wind. So their harvest will be a strong storm! The crops that grow in their fields will not have any grain. So they will not be able to make flour for bread. Even if the crops do make some grain, foreign people will take it for themselves. 8Israel will become lost among the other nations. It will be like a useless pot that nobody needs. 9Israel's rulers have gone to Assyria for help. They are like a wild donkey that goes here and there. Ephraim's people have paid money to get help from other nations. as if they are paying for lovers.

Hosea 8:7 word by word

כִּ֛י ר֥וּחַ יִזְרָ֖עוּ וְסוּפָ֣תָה יִקְצֹ֑רוּ קָמָ֣ה אֵֽין־ל֗וֹ צֶ֚מַח בְּלִ֣י יַֽעֲשֶׂה־קֶּ֔מַח אוּלַ֣י יַֽעֲשֶׂ֔ה זָרִ֖ים יִבְלָעֻֽהוּ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For they have sownזָרַעzâra‛ · to sowH2232
• the windרוּחַrûach · spirit: breathH7307
• and they shall reapקָצַרqâtsar · to reapH7114
• the whirlwindסוּפָהsûphâh · whirlwindH5492
• it hath no stalkקָמָהqâmâh · standing grainH7054
• the budצֶ֫מַחtsemach · branchH6780
• shall yieldעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
• no mealקֶ֫מַחqemach · flourH7058
• ifאוּלַי'ûlay 'ûlay · perhapsH194
• the strangersזוּרzûr · be a strangerH2114
• shall swallow it upבָּלַעbâla‛ · to swallow upH1104

Cross-references for Hosea 8:7

• Hosea 10:12Be like a farmer who plants good seed. Plant things that are good and right. Then your harvest will be faithful love. Plough the hard ground and prepare it for the Lord to bless you. It is time for you to turn back to the Lord. Then he will bless you with good things, like rain that falls on the ground!
• Job 4:8I will tell you what I have seen. Trouble comes to people who do wicked things. They receive the punishment that they deserve.
• Proverbs 22:8If you plant evil things, your harvest will be trouble. If you are angry and you hurt people, it will never help you.
• Ecclesiastes 5:16This is also a terrible thing to happen. People leave this earth with nothing, as they came into it with nothing. All their hard work has been useless, like someone who tries to catch the wind.
• Galatians 6:7Nobody can hide the things that he does from God. Do not think a false thought like that! It is like a farmer who plants seeds in his field. The same kind of crops will grow as the seeds which he plants. That will be his harvest.
• Isaiah 17:11You take care of them so that they grow quickly. They may even make flowers on the same morning that you plant them! But you will never have any fruit from them. You will only get trouble and pain that will never go away.
• Jeremiah 12:13My people will plant seeds of wheat, but they will only have weeds at harvest time. They will work very hard, but they will get nothing. At harvest time, they will have no crops to be proud of. Because I am very angry, they will not have any food.’
• Hosea 7:9Foreign people have taken away Israel's strength. But the Israelites do not realize what is happening! They have become like an old man with grey hair. But they do not realize how weak they are.
• Deuteronomy 28:33Strangers will eat the food that you have worked hard to grow in your fields. People will be cruel to you for the rest of your lives.
• Judges 6:3When they planted seeds to grow food, their enemies would attack them. The Midianites, Amalekites and people from the east would come to rob them.
• 2 Kings 13:3So the Lord was very angry with Israel. For many years the Lord put the Israelites under the power of King Hazael of Syria and his son Ben-Hadad.
• 2 Kings 15:19Then Pul, the king of Assyria, attacked the land of Israel. Menahem paid him 34 tons of silver to help him to rule Israel with greater power.

Commentaries on Hosea 8:7

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind - As the husbandman reaps the same kind of grain which he has sown, but in far greater abundance, thirty, sixty, or one hundred fold; so he who sows the wind shall have a whirlwind to reap. The vental seed shall be multiplied into a tempest so they who sow the seed of unrighteousness shall reap a harvest of judgment. This is a fine, bold, and energetic metaphor. It hath no stalk - Nothing that can…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind - “They shall reap,” not merely as “they have sown,” but with an awful increase. They sowed folly and vanity, and shall reap, not merely emptiness and disappointment, but sudden, irresistible destruction. “They sowed the wind,” and, as one seed bringeth forth many, so the wind, “penn‘d up,” as it were, in this destructive tillage, should “burst forth again, reinforced in strength, in mightier…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-10Verses 5-10 They promised themselves plenty, peace, and victory, by worshipping idols, but their expectations came to nothing. What they sow has no stalk, no blade, or, if it have, the bud shall yield no fruit, there was nothing in them. The works of darkness are unfruitful; nay, the end of those things is death. The hopes of sinners will deceive them, and their gains will be snares. In times of danger, especially in the day of judgment, all carnal…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7When Hosea announced God's judgment, the punishment fit the crime (see study note on Hosea 4:10). Through their idol worship and political schemes, the Israelites caused their own downfall (see Galatians 6:7).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. sown ... reap--(Pr 22:8; Ga 6:7). "Sow ... wind," that is, to make the vain show of worship, while faith and obedience are wanting [Calvin]. Rather, to offer senseless supplications to the calves for good harvests (compare Ho 2:8); the result being that God will make them "reap no stalk," that is, "standing corn." Also, the phraseology proverbially means that all their undertakings shall be profitless (Pr 11:29; Ec 5:16). the bud--or, "growth."…Read the comment

Topics related to Hosea 8:7

• Idolatry
• Meteorology and Celestial Phenomena
• Sin
• Sower
• Whirlwind

In the dictionaries

• Hosea
• Reaping
• Stalk
• Whirlwind
• Wind
• Zechariah, Book of

Commentaries on Hosea 8

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings