Tree of Life Version
Hosea 12:7
7So you should return to your God, keep covenant loyalty and justice, and wait for your God continually.
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.
- New International Version (NIV)The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud.
- 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.
Context of Hosea 12:7
5Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won; he wept and sought his favor. At Bethel he will find us, and there He will speak with us. 6Even Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot— Adonai is His memorial-Name. So you should return to your God, keep covenant loyalty and justice, and wait for your God continually. 8A merchant loves to extort, with deceptive balances in his hand. 9Now Ephraim has said: “How rich I have become! I found wealth by myself. I won’t be guilty of any sin with any of my property.”
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, thus says Adonai to Jerusalem: ‘Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite, your mother was a Hittite.
- Zechariah 14:21In fact every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be Holy to Adonai-Tzva’ot, so that everyone who comes to sacrifice will take them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the House of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
- John 2:16To those selling doves, He said, “Get these things out of here! Stop making My Father’s house a marketplace!”
- Leviticus 19:35“You must not be dishonest in judgment—in measurements of length, weight or of quantity.
- Proverbs 11:1Dishonest scales are an abomination to Adonai, but an accurate weight is His delight.
- Proverbs 16:11Honest balances and scales are Adonai’s. All the weights in a bag are His handiwork.
- Amos 8:5saying: ‘When will the New Moon be over, so we may sell grain? Or Shabbat, so we may open the wheat market? —Let’s reduce the ephah measure and increase the shekel, cheat with deceitful balances,
- Micah 6:10Does the house of the wicked still have treasures of wickedness? Or is an undersized ephah denounced?
- 1 Timothy 6:9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
- Isaiah 3:5The people will oppress one another— each one by his fellow, each one by his neighbor. The child will be insolent to the aged, and dishonorable to the honorable.
- Ezekiel 22:29“The people of the land have oppressively blackmailed, plundered in robbery, wronged the poor and needy and abused the outsider unjustly.
- Amos 2:7They trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and thwart the way of the humble. A man and his father go to the same girl, to profane My holy Name.
- Amos 3:9Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod and the citadels in the land of Egypt: “Assemble on Samaria’s mountains: Behold the great tumult within it, even the oppression within it.”
- Amos 4:1Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on Samaria’s hill, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their masters: “Bring, so we may drink.”
- Amos 5:11Therefore, because you trample on the poor, exacting from him a burden of grain, you built houses of hewn stone, but will not dwell in them, you planted pleasant vineyards, but will not drink their wine.
- Micah 2:1Oy to them who scheme wickedness, who work out evil upon their beds! In the light of the morning, they do it, for the power is in their hands.
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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