God’s Word Translation
Hosea 9:3
3The people of Ephraim won’t stay in the Lord’s land. They will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
Hosea 9:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
- New International Version (NIV)They will not remain in the Lord’s land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
- English Standard Version (ESV)They shall not remain in the land of the Lord, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
- New King James Version (NKJV)They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land, But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
Context of Hosea 9:3
1Israel, don’t rejoice. Don’t celebrate as other nations do. You have been unfaithful to your God. You have sold sex on every threshing floor. 2There won’t be enough grain to feed people. There won’t be enough wine to go around. The people of Ephraim won’t stay in the Lord’s land. They will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria. 4They won’t pour wine offerings to the Lord, and their sacrifices won’t please him. Their sacrifices will be like the food that mourners eat. All who eat this food will be unclean. Their food will only satisfy their hunger. It will not be brought ⌞as an offering⌟ to the Lord’s temple. 5What will they do on the day of an appointed festival or on the Lord’s festival days?
Read all of Hosea 9Hosea 9:3 word by word
לֹ֥א יֵשְׁב֖וּ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ יְהוָ֑ה וְשָׁ֤ב אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙ מִצְרַ֔יִם וּבְאַשּׁ֖וּר טָמֵ֥א יֹאכֵֽלוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- They shall not dwellיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
- in the Lord’sיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
- landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
- but Ephraimאֶפְרַ֫יִם'ephrayim · EphraimH669
- shall returnשׁוּבshûb · to return: returnH7725
- to Egyptמִצְרַ֫יִםmitsrayim · EgyptH4714
- and they shall eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
- uncleanטָמֵאţâmê' · uncleanH2931
- in Assyriaאַשּׁוּר'ashshûr 'ashshûr · AssyriaH804
Cross-references for Hosea 9:3
- Leviticus 18:28If you make the land unclean, it will vomit you out as it has vomited out the people who were there before you.
- Leviticus 20:22“If you carefully obey all my laws and my rules, the land I am bringing you to live in will not vomit you out.
- Deuteronomy 4:26you will quickly disappear from the land you’re going to possess on the other side of the Jordan River. You won’t live very long there. You’ll be completely wiped out.
- Deuteronomy 28:63At one time the Lord was more than glad to make you prosperous and numerous. Now the Lord will be more than glad to destroy you and wipe you out. You will be torn out of the land you’re about to enter and take possession of.
- Joshua 23:15“Every good word the Lord your God has promised you has come true for you. In the same way the Lord will bring about every evil curse until he has destroyed you from this good land that he has given you.
- 1 Kings 9:7then I will cut Israel out of the land I gave them. I will reject this temple that I declared holy for my name. Israel will be an example and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world.
- Micah 2:10Get up, and go away! This is not a place to rest! It will be destroyed, completely destroyed, because it offends me.
- Leviticus 25:23“Land must never be sold permanently, because the land is mine. To me you are strangers without permanent homes.
- Jeremiah 2:7I brought them into a fertile land to eat its fruit and its produce. They came and made my land unclean. They made my property disgusting.
- Jeremiah 16:18First, I will have them pay twice as much for their wickedness and their sin, because they have polluted my land. They have filled my property with the lifeless statues of their detestable and disgusting idols.”
- Hosea 9:6Even if they escape without being destroyed, Egypt will capture them and Memphis will bury them. Weeds will grow over their silver treasures. Thorns will grow over their tents.
- Hosea 8:13They offer sacrifices to me and eat the meat of sacrifices, but I, the Lord, do not accept these sacrifices. Now I will remember their wickedness and punish them because of their sins. They will go back to Egypt.
- Hosea 11:5“They will not return to Egypt. Instead, Assyria will rule them because they have refused to return to me.
- Deuteronomy 28:68The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships on a journey that I said you would never take again. There you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you.
- Isaiah 11:15The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River with his scorching wind and divide it into seven streams so that people can walk over it in their sandals.
- Ezekiel 4:13Then the Lord said, “In the same way, the people of Israel will eat unclean bread among the nations where I scatter them.”
Commentaries on Hosea 9:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3But Ephraim shall return to Egypt - See on Hosea 8:12; (note).Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3They shall not dwell in the Lord‘s land. The earth is the Lord‘s and the fulness thereof - Yet He had chosen the land of Canaan, there to place His people; there, above others, to work His miracles; there to reveal Himself; there to send His Son to take our flesh. He had put Israel in possession of it, to hold it under Him on condition of obedience. Contrariwise, God had denounced to them again and again; “if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3God would send the Israelites into exile in Assyria in 722 BC. There, in a land considered unclean, they would eat food that was ceremonially unclean. This would separate them even more from their covenant with the Lord.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. return to Egypt--(See on Ho 8:13). As in Ho 11:5 it is said, "He shall not return into ... Egypt." Fairbairn thinks it is not the exact country that is meant, but the bondage state with which, from past experience, Egypt was identified in their minds. Assyria was to be a second Egypt to them. De 28:68, though threatening a return to Egypt, speaks (De 28:36) of their being brought to a nation which neither they nor their fathers had known, showing that…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 9:3
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 9
- 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
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