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Oséias 9

ARC · Chapter 9/14

1Não te alegres, ó Israel, até saltar, como os povos; porque pela fornicação abandonaste o teu Deus: amaste a paga de meretriz sobre todas as eiras de trigo.

2A eira e o lagar não os manterão; e o mosto lhe faltará.

3Na terra do Senhor não permanecerão; mas Ephraim tornará ao Egypto, e na Assyria comerão o immundo.

4Não derramarão vinho ao Senhor, nem lhe serão suaves: os seus sacrificios lhes serão como pão de pranto; todos os que d'elle comerem serão immundos, porque o seu pão é por sua alma; não entrará na casa do Senhor

5Que fareis vós no dia da solemnidade, e no dia da festa do Senhor?

6Porque, eis que elles se foram por causa da destruição: o Egypto os recolherá, Memphis os sepultará: o desejavel da sua prata as ortigas o possuirão por herança, espinhos haverá nas suas moradas.

7Já chegaram os dias da visitação, já chegaram os dias da retribuição; os de Israel o saberão: o propheta é louco, o homem de espirito é furioso; por causa da abundancia da tua iniquidade tambem abundará o odio.

8Ephraim era o vigia com o meu Deus, mas o propheta é como um laço de caçador de aves em todos os seus caminhos, odio na casa do seu Deus.

9Mui profundamente se corromperam, como nos dias de Gibeah: lembrar-se-ha das suas injustiças, visitará os peccados d'elles.

10Achei a Israel como uvas no deserto, vi a vossos paes como a fructa temporã da figueira no seu principio; porém entraram a Baalpeor, e se apartaram para essa vergonha, e se tornaram abominaveis como aquillo que amaram.

11Quanto a Ephraim, a sua gloria como ave voará desde o nascimento, e desde o ventre, e desde o concebimento.

12Ainda que venham a crear seus filhos, comtudo os privarei d'elles d'entre os homens, porque tambem, ai d'elles! quando me apartar d'elles.

13Ephraim, assim como vi a Tyro, plantada está n'um logar deleitoso; mas Ephraim tirará para fóra seus filhos para o matador.

14Dá-lhes, ó Senhor; que pois lhes darás? dá-lhes uma madre que aborte e seios seccos.

15Toda a sua malicia se acha em Gilgal, porque ali os aborreci pela malicia das suas obras: lançal-os-hei para fóra de minha casa; não os amarei mais: todos os seus principes são rebeldes.

16Ephraim foi ferido, seccou-se a sua raiz; não darão fructo: e, ainda que gerem, todavia matarei os desejaveis do seu ventre.

17O meu Deus os rejeitará, porque não o ouvem, e vagabundos andarão entre as nações.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God announces that the joy of Israel's festivals will turn into mourning, for they will be exiled to Assyria and Egypt because of their deep spiritual corruption.

Explanation

This chapter contrasts the joy of the Canaanite agricultural celebrations, which Israel copied to 'thank' Baal for the harvest, with what actually awaits them: famine, exile, and the loss of their children. The reference to Gibeah recalls the brutal episode of Judges 19-21, showing that Israel's moral corruption went back a long way. The metaphor of Ephraim as 'grapes in the wilderness' and 'the firstripe in the fig tree' describes God's initial joy at finding the people, contrasted with the disappointment of watching them corrupt themselves at Baal-peor (Numbers 25). Today's lesson is that celebrating material blessings without gratitude to the true God is a subtle but real form of idolatry.

Fun facts

  • Baal-peor (v.10) was an episode in Numbers 25 in which the Israelites became involved with Moabite women and worshiped the local god, resulting in a plague that killed thousands — Hosea uses this event as a symbol of Israel's repeated unfaithfulness.
  • Memphis (v.6) was one of the leading cities of ancient Egypt, famous for its temples and necropolises; the prophecy that the Egyptians would 'gather' the bodies indicates that many Israelites would flee there in vain, seeking refuge.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Oséias 9:1Israel liked to celebrate the harvests the way the neighboring peoples did, in rituals mixed with worship of Baal; the prophet cuts that joy off at the root.
  2. Oséias 9:2The harvest of grain and grapes will not be enough to sustain them, and wine will run short — the end of the abundance they used to celebrate with idolatrous festivals.
  3. Oséias 9:3Returning "to Egypt" here is an image of regression, of going back to spiritual slavery; the actual place of exile would be Assyria, where the people would eat food considered unclean.
  4. Oséias 9:4In exile they will not be able to make proper offerings to the Lord; their very food will become like "the bread of mourners," unclean, with no access to true worship.
  5. Oséias 9:5God's rhetorical question: without a temple or their own land, how will this people celebrate the religious festivals they always kept?
  6. Oséias 9:6Describes the flight to Egypt and death in a foreign land, with the people's houses overtaken by weeds and thorns — total abandonment of the homeland.
  7. Oséias 9:7"The prophet is a fool" is what the people said about the true prophets to discredit them; the more serious the sin, the more the people reject whoever tries to warn them.
  8. Oséias 9:8Ephraim was meant to keep watch alongside God, but the false prophets became a hunter's traps, and there is hostility even inside the house of God.
  9. Oséias 9:9A comparison with the brutal episode at Gibeah (Judges 19–20), one of the darkest moments in Israel's history, to show just how deep the current corruption runs.
  10. Oséias 9:10"Baal-peor" recalls an ancient episode (Numbers 25), when Israel, still in the wilderness, got involved with a Canaanite cult right after leaving Egypt — showing that this temptation is very old.
  11. Oséias 9:11Ephraim's "glory" — its offspring, its fertility — will vanish quickly, like a bird flying away, even before the children are born.
  12. Oséias 9:12Even if they manage to raise their children to adulthood, God will take them away from among men; the worst punishment of all is when God withdraws.
  13. Oséias 9:13Ephraim, like the wealthy city of Tyre, is well planted in a prosperous place, but will end up handing its own children over to die in war.
  14. Oséias 9:14Hosea's shocking prayer: he asks God to give Ephraim miscarrying wombs and dry breasts — better to have no children than to raise them only to watch them die.
  15. Oséias 9:15Gilgal, a pilgrimage site mentioned earlier in the book, became a symbol of wickedness; that is why God decides to drive the people out of His own house.
  16. Oséias 9:16Ephraim is compared to a tree with a dried-up root, bearing no fruit — even if they still bear children, those children will not survive what is coming.
  17. Oséias 9:17The chapter's conclusion: rejection for disobedience, resulting in exile and a wandering life scattered among the nations.

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