Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Hosea
Hosea portrays God as a faithful husband to an unfaithful people, calling the prophet to embody that love by marrying an unfaithful wife. It mingles painful warnings of judgment with some of the tenderest promises of mercy and restoration in all of Scripture. This commentary walks through it verse by verse.
About This Commentary
The Book of Hosea records the ministry of Hosea son of Beeri to the northern kingdom of Israel in its final decades before the Assyrian conquest, roughly 750 to 715 BC. God commanded Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife, making the prophet's own heartbreak a living picture of God's grief over an unfaithful people. The book moves between searching indictments of Israel's idolatry and unforgettable promises of a love that will not let go.
This commentary covers Hosea verse by verse, with the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, verified background, and an Apostolic reading. Hosea's promise that 'Not My People' would become 'sons of the living God' is taken up by Paul and Peter to describe the gospel calling of a people to God, and God's faithful, redeeming love points to Christ, the Bridegroom of His church. References are given at the foot of each chapter.
All 14 chapters of Hosea are complete, from the prophet's marriage that pictures God's grief, through the searching warnings against idolatry, to the book's tender close in free, healing love: 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.'
Author
Hosea son of Beeri, prophet to the northern kingdom.
Setting
Israel's last decades before Assyria, ~750 to 715 BC.
Key Image
A faithful husband and an unfaithful wife: God and Israel.
Theme
God's wounded love, judgment, and unrelenting mercy.
Translation
King James Version (KJV) throughout.
The Chapters
Hosea Commentary
The chapters below are available now. The rest are being written and will open here as they are finished and verified.
Hosea 1:1-11
A Marriage That Preaches
God commands Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife as a living picture of Israel's betrayal, names the children in judgment, and yet promises that 'Not My People' will be called sons of the living God.
Read Chapter 1 →Hosea 2:1-23
I Will Betroth Thee Unto Me For Ever
God's wounded love for an unfaithful people: the hedge of thorns that brings her home, and the tender restoration, 'I will allure her... and speak comfortably unto her,' the valley of Achor made 'a door of hope,' the everlasting betrothal 'in lovingkindness, and in mercies,' and the unloved made His own, 'Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.'
Read Chapter 2 →Hosea 3:1-5
Redeemed at a Price
God commands Hosea to love his adulterous wife again 'according to the love of the LORD,' and to buy her back for fifteen pieces of silver, a picture of Christ redeeming His bride, and the promise that Israel will 'return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king' in the latter days.
Read Chapter 3 →Hosea 4:1-19
Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge
The LORD's controversy with a land where 'there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God,' the fatal warning 'my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,' the failure of the priests who forgot the law, and the sobering judgment of abandonment, 'Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.'
Read Chapter 4 →Hosea 5:1-15
Till They Seek My Face
Judgment on priests, people, and king; the pride that blocks repentance; a God who withdraws from empty ritual, 'they shall seek the LORD; but they shall not find him'; the wound Assyria cannot heal; and the saving purpose of His discipline, 'I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face.'
Read Chapter 5 →Hosea 6:1-11
I Desired Mercy, and Not Sacrifice
The call to return to the God who wounds and heals, the resurrection hope 'in the third day he will raise us up,' the exhortation to 'follow on to know the LORD,' God's grief over goodness that fades 'as a morning cloud,' and the great word Jesus quoted twice, 'I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.'
Read Chapter 6 →Hosea 7:1-16
A Cake Not Turned
Inflamed passions like an oven with the tragic refrain 'there is none among them that calleth unto me'; Ephraim 'a cake not turned,' ruined by mixing with the nations; gray hairs of decay he 'knoweth not'; 'a silly dove' running to Egypt and Assyria; and a people who 'return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow.'
Read Chapter 7 →Hosea 8:1-14
They Sowed the Wind
The broken covenant, the empty claim 'My God, we know thee,' the man-made calf that 'is not God,' the harvest of sin, 'they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind,' God's word 'counted as a strange thing,' and the root sin, 'Israel hath forgotten his Maker.'
Read Chapter 8 →Hosea 9:1-17
The Days of Visitation Are Come
Joy forbidden to a people who 'gone a whoring from thy God,' exile back to Egypt, 'the days of visitation are come,' the memory of Israel spoiled at Baal-peor where 'their abominations were according as they loved,' the woe of 'when I depart from them,' and the root, 'because they did not hearken unto him.'
Read Chapter 9 →Hosea 10:1-15
It Is Time to Seek the LORD
An empty vine whose fruit fed only idols, the divided heart that cannot serve two masters, the terror that makes men cry 'to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us,' and the great gospel call at the heart of the book, 'Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.'
Read Chapter 10 →Hosea 11:1-12
How Shall I Give Thee Up, Ephraim?
The heart of God laid bare: the Father who loved Israel as a child, 'called my son out of Egypt' (fulfilled in Christ), taught him to walk and drew him 'with bands of love'; the wound of a people 'bent to backsliding'; and the melting cry of mercy that overrules wrath, 'How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?... for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee.'
Read Chapter 11 →Hosea 12:1-14
Turn Thou to Thy God
Ephraim 'feedeth on wind,' chasing lies and false alliances; God holds up their father Jacob, the supplanter transformed at Peniel, who 'wept, and made supplication' and so 'had power with God'; the great call, 'turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually'; and the grace of a nation redeemed and preserved 'by a prophet,' yet provoking God 'most bitterly.'
Read Chapter 12 →Hosea 13:1-16
O Death, I Will Be Thy Plagues
Dead idols set against the living God who alone saves, 'thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me'; the peril of fullness that breeds forgetting; the honest verdict and open door, 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help'; and the great resurrection promise Paul takes up, 'I will ransom them from the power of the grave... O death, I will be thy plagues.'
Read Chapter 13 →Hosea 14:1-9
I Will Love Them Freely
The book's tender close: the call 'O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God,' the God-given prayer of repentance, 'Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously,' the free grace of the gospel, 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him,' the fruitful restored life of dew, lily, olive, and vine, and the closing word to the wise, 'the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them.'
Read Chapter 14 →