New King James Version
Hosea 8:9
9For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey alone by itself; Ephraim has hired 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 Living Translation (NLT)Like a wild donkey looking for a mate, they have gone up to Assyria. The people of Israel have sold themselves— sold themselves to many lovers.
Context of Hosea 8:9
7“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. 8Israel is swallowed up; Now they are among the Gentiles Like a vessel in which is no pleasure. For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey alone by itself; Ephraim has hired lovers. 10Yes, though they have hired among the nations, Now I will gather them; And they shall sorrow a little, Because of the burden of the king of princes. 11“Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, They have become for him altars 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 his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound.
- Hosea 7:11“Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense— They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria.
- 2 Kings 15:19Pul king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his control.
- Ezekiel 23:5“Oholah played the harlot even though she was Mine; And she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians,
- Job 39:5“Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager,
- Jeremiah 2:24A wild donkey used to the wilderness, That sniffs at the wind in her desire; In her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; In her month they will find her.
- Hosea 2:5For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.’
- Hosea 12:1“Ephraim feeds on the wind, And pursues the east wind; He daily increases lies and desolation. Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians, And oil is carried to Egypt.
- Isaiah 30:6The burden against the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and anguish, From which came the lioness and lion, The viper and fiery flying serpent, They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys, And their treasures on the humps of camels, To a people who shall not profit;
- Ezekiel 16:33Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries