Hosea 14 Explained

Hosea 14 is the fourteenth and final chapter of the Book of Hosea in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^{[1] [2]} In the Hebrew Bible it is part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.^{[3] [4]} This chapter concludes the prophecies attributed to the prophet Hosea, son of Beeri, with an exhortation to repentance (Hosea 14:1-3), a promise of God's blessing (Hosea 14:4-9), and a concluding verse resembling the wisdom tradition.

Text

The original text was written in Hebrew. This chapter is divided into 9 verses in Christian Bibles, but 10 verses in the Hebrew Bible, which includes Hosea 13:16 as Hosea 14:1.^{[5] [6]} This article generally follows the common numbering in Christian English Bible versions, with notes to the numbering in Hebrew Bible versions.

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew come from the Masoretic Text tradition, including the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including 4Q78 (4QXII^c; 75–50 BCE) with extant verses 1–5 (verse 1–6 in Masoretic text);^{[7] [8]} and 4Q82 (4QXII^g; 25 BCE) with extant verses 8–9 (verses 9–10 in Masoretic text).^{[7] [9]}

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

ak{G} ^B; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ak{G} ^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ak{G} ^Q; 6th century).

Verse 1

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.^[10]

• "You have stumbled": from Hebrew ka-shalta, "fallen due to a false step".^[11]

Verse 9

Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?

prudent, and he shall know them?

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and the just shall walk in them:

but the transgressors shall fall therein.^[12] This epilogue sums up the whole previous teaching. The Jerusalem Bible treats it as a "later addition in the style of the wisdom literature".^[13] Only here Hosea uses the term "righteous", a "rare character" in his day.^[14]

• "The ways of the Lord": also called "the 'course' of His providence", as it is written, "His ways are judgment" in 32:4 9 and 4:37 9; "God, His ways are perfect" in 18:30 9; "the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works" in 145:17 9; "Thy way is in the sea, and Thy paths in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known" in 77:19 9; "... these are parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard of Him, and the thunder of His power who can understand?" 26:14 9; "who hath enjoined Him His way, and who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?" in 36:23 9.^[15]
• "But the transgressors shall fall therein": the "transgressors of the law of God", according to Kimchi's father, will "stumble in them and fall"; or as Jarchi and the Targum state, "they fall into hell, into ruin and destruction, because they walk not in them"; but the sense also seems as Christ himself, his ways and his word, his doctrines and his ordinances, be stumbling blocks to wicked men, at which they stumble, and fall, and perish; see 2:34 9 and 9:33 9.^[16]
• In contrast, Wellhausen's "well-known reconstruction" of 14.9 is

Was hat Ephraim noch mit den Götzen?

ich bin seine Anath und seine Aschera,

ich bin ihm wie eine grüne Cypresse

bei mir finder sich seine Frucht.^[17]

See also

• Ashur, the grandson of Noah in Genesis
• Ephraim
• Israel
• Lebanon

• Related Bible parts: 4 HE, Psalm 111, Proverbs 1, Hosea 13

Sources

• Book: Collins , John J. . Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Fortress Press. 2014. 9781451469233.
• Book: Day, John . 27. Hosea . The Oxford Bible Commentary . John. Barton . John Barton (theologian) . John. Muddiman . John Muddiman . Oxford University Press . first (paperback) . 2007 . 571–578 . 978-0199277186 . February 6, 2019.
• Book: Fitzmyer, Joseph A.. A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Joseph Fitzmyer . William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2008. 9780802862419. Grand Rapids, MI .
• Book: Hayes , Christine . Introduction to the Bible. Yale University Press. 2015. 978-0300188271.
• Book: Ulrich. Eugene . Eugene Ulrich. The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants. 2010. Brill.
• Book: Würthwein, Ernst . Ernst Würthwein . The Text of the Old Testament . Wm. B. Eerdmans . Grand Rapids, MI . 1995 . Erroll F.. Rhodes . 0-8028-0788-7 . January 26, 2019.

External links

Jewish

• Hosea 14 Hebrew with Parallel English
• Hosea 14 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

• Hosea 14 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate

Notes and References

1. Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary. 24th edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1965. p. 356
2. Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012
3. [Bruce M. Metzger|Metzger, Bruce M.]
4. Keck, Leander E. 1996. The New Interpreter's Bible: Volume: VII. Nashville: Abingdon.
5. https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1313.htm Book of Hosea chapter 13
6. Note on Hosea 13:16 in NET Bible
7. https://thewaytoyahuweh.com/dead-sea-scrolls/general-info/#hosea Dead sea scrolls - Hosea
8. https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive/manuscript/4Q78-1 4Q78 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
9. https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive/manuscript/4Q82-1 4Q82 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
10. 14:1 MEV

    MEV or 14:1 HE in Hebrew Bible

11. Joseph S. Exell; Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones (Editors). The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890.
12. 14:9 KJV KJV or 14:10 HE in Hebrew Bible
13. Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote k at Hosea 14:10
14. Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset; David Brown. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary On the Whole Bible. 1871.
15. [Albert Barnes (theologian)|Barnes, Albert]
16. [John Gill (theologian)|John Gill]
17. Wiggins . Steve A. . A Reassessment of Asherah . A Reassessment of Asherah . 2007 . 2024-05-18 . 203.