God’s Word Translation
Hosea 8:9
9“The people of Israel went to Assyria. They were like wild donkeys wandering off alone. The people of Ephraim sold themselves to their lovers.
Hosea 8:9 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
- New International Version (NIV)For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey alone by itself; Ephraim has hired lovers.
Context of Hosea 8:9
7“The people of Israel plant the wind, but they harvest a storm. A field of grain that doesn’t ripen will never produce any grain. Even if it did produce grain, foreigners would eat it all. 8Israel will be swallowed up. It has already mixed in with the other nations. It has become worthless. “The people of Israel went to Assyria. They were like wild donkeys wandering off alone. The people of Ephraim sold themselves to their lovers. 10Even though they sold themselves among the nations, I will gather them now. They will suffer for a while under the burdens of kings and princes. 11“The more altars that the people of Ephraim build to make offerings to pay for their sins, the more places they have for sinning.
Read all of Hosea 8Hosea 8:9 word by word
כִּֽי־הֵ֙מָּה֙ עָל֣וּ אַשּׁ֔וּר פֶּ֖רֶא בּוֹדֵ֣ד ל֑וֹ אֶפְרַ֖יִם הִתְנ֥וּ אֲהָבִֽיםRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 8:9
- Hosea 5:13“When Ephraim saw that he was sick and when Judah saw his own wounds, Ephraim went to Assyria to ask the great king for help. But the king couldn’t cure them or heal their wounds.
- Hosea 7:11Ephraim, you are like a silly, senseless dove. You call for Egypt and run to Assyria for help.
- 2 Kings 15:19King Pul of Assyria came to ⌞attack⌟ the country. So Menahem gave Pul 75,000 pounds of silver to gain his support and help strengthen his hold on the kingdom.
- Ezekiel 23:5Oholah acted like a prostitute, although she was my wife. She lusted after her Assyrian lovers who lived nearby.
- Job 39:5“Who lets the wild donkey go free? Who unties the ropes of the wild donkey?
- Jeremiah 2:24You are like a wild donkey that is used to the desert, sniffing the wind while in heat. All who look for you won’t get tired. They will find you during your monthly period.
- Hosea 2:5Their mother acted like a prostitute. The woman who became pregnant with them did shameful things. She said, ‘I’ll chase after my lovers. They will give me food and water, wool and linen, olive oil and wine.’
- Hosea 12:1The people of Ephraim try to catch the wind and try to chase the east wind all day. They are very violent and destructive. They make treaties with Assyria and take olive oil to Egypt.
- Isaiah 30:6This is the divine revelation about the animals in the Negev. “My people travel through lands where they experience distress and hardship. Lions and lionesses live there. Vipers and poisonous snakes live there. They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels to a nation that can’t help them.
- Ezekiel 16:33All prostitutes get paid. But you give gifts to all your lovers and bribe them to come to you from all directions to have sex with you.
Commentaries on Hosea 8:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9They are gone up to Assyria - For succor. A wild ass alone by himself - Like that animal, jealous of its liberty, and suffering no rival. If we may credit Pliny and others, one male wild ass will keep a whole flock of females to himself, suffer no other to approach them, and even bite off the genitals of the colts, lest in process of time they should become his rivals. "Mares singuli faeminarum gregibus imperitant; timent libidinis aemulos, et ideo…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9For they are gone up to Assyria - The ground of this their captivity is that wherein they placed their hope of safety. They shall be presently swallowed up; “for” they went to Asshur. The holy land being then honored by the spectral presence of God, all nations are said to “go up” to it. Now, since Israel forgetting God, their strength and their glory, went to the Assyrian for help, he is said to “go up” there, where he went as a suppliant. A wild donkey…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. 9like a wild donkey: Hosea compared Israel's worship of the Canaanite fertility gods to an animal eager to mate (see Jeremiah 2:23–24).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. gone ... to Assyria--referring to Menahem's application for Pul's aid in establishing him on the throne (compare Ho 5:13; 7:11). Menahem's name is read in the inscriptions in the southwest palace of Nimrod, as a tributary to the Assyrian king in his eighth year. The dynasty of Pul, or Phalluka, was supplanted at Nineveh by that of Tiglath-pileser, about 768 (or 760) B.C. Semiramis seems to have been Pul's wife, and to have withdrawn to Babylon in 768…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 8:9
In the dictionaries
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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