New International Version
Hosea 12:7
7The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud.
Hosea 12:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
- English Standard Version (ESV)A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“A cunning Canaanite! Deceitful scales are in his hand; He loves to oppress.
- New Living Translation (NLT)But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales— they love to cheat.
Context of Hosea 12:7
5the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is his name! 6But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud. 8Ephraim boasts, “I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.” 9“I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals.
Read all of Hosea 12Hosea 12:7 word by word
כְּנַ֗עַן בְּיָד֛וֹ מֹאזְנֵ֥י מִרְמָ֖ה לַעֲשֹׁ֥ק אָהֵֽב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 12:7
- Ezekiel 16:3and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
- Zechariah 14:21Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty.
- John 2:16To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
- Leviticus 19:35“ ‘Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity.
- Proverbs 11:1The Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him.
- Proverbs 16:11Honest scales and balances belong to the Lord; all the weights in the bag are of his making.
- Amos 8:5saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,
- Micah 6:10Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house, and the short ephah, which is accursed?
- 1 Timothy 6:9Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
- Isaiah 3:5People will oppress each other— man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.
- Ezekiel 22:29The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.
- Amos 2:7They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.
- Amos 3:9Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod and to the fortresses of Egypt: “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest within her and the oppression among her people.”
- Amos 4:1Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”
- Amos 5:11You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.
- Micah 2:1Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.
Commentaries on Hosea 12:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7He is a merchant - Or a Canaanite; referring to the Phoenicians, famous for their traffic. Ephraim is as corrupt as those heathenish traffickers were. He kept, as many in all ages have done, a weight and a weight; a heavy one to buy with and a light one to sell by.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7He is a merchant - Or, indignantly, “a merchant in whose hands are the balances of deceit!” How could they love “mercy and justice,” whose trade was “deceit,” who weighed out deceit with their goods? False in their dealings, in their weights and measures, and, by taking advantage of the necessities of others, oppressive also. Deceit is the sin of weakness oppression is the abuse of power. Wealth does not give the power to use naked violence but wealthy…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-14Verses 7-14 Ephraim became a merchant: the word also signifies a Canaanite. They carried on trade upon Canaanitish principles, covetously and with fraud and deceit. Thus they became rich, and falsely supposed that Providence favoured them. But shameful sins shall have shameful punishments. Let them remember, not only what a mighty prince Jacob was with God, but what a servant he was to Laban. The benefits we have had from the word of God, make our sin and…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7-8During the reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 BC), Israelite merchants became very wealthy. They often used deceitful business practices like dishonest scales (see Amos 8:5–6). The Hebrew term for merchants is kena‘an (“Canaan”). Canaanite traders were known in the ancient world for their crafty dealings. The Israelites imitated their pagan neighbors in both religion and commerce.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. merchant--a play on the double sense of the Hebrew, "Canaan," that is, a Canaanite and a "merchant" Eze 16:3: "Thy birth is ... of Canaan." They who naturally were descendants of pious Jacob had become virtually Canaanites, who were proverbial as cheating merchants (compare Is 23:11, Margin), the greatest reproach to Israel, who despised Canaan. The Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites or merchants (Is 23:8). oppress--open violence: as the…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 12:7
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 12
- 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
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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