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Hosea 9:12

Old Testament Minor Prophet ASV (1901)

What does Hosea 9:12 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, so that not a man shall be left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, so that not a man shall be left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
Hosea 9:12 — American Standard Version

Context — Hosea 9

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
10I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at its first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
11As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird: there shall be no birth, and none with child, and no conception.
12Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, so that not a man shall be left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
13Ephraim, like as I have seen Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer.
14Give them, O Jehovah-what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters.
← Hosea 9:11Hosea 9:13 →
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Though they bring up their children, etc.] Though this be the case of some, as to be conceived, carried in the womb to the full time, and be born, and brought up to a more adult age, and appear very promising to live, and perpetuate the names of their fathers and their families: yet will I bereave them; their parents of them, by the sword, famine, pestilence, or by carrying them captive into a foreign country: [that there shall] not [be] a man [left]; in the whole land of Israel, but all shall be destroyed, or carried captive; or, “from men”f180; that is, either from being men, as the Targum; though they are brought up to some ripeness, and a more adult age than others, yet arrive not to…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Even though they should rear their children, yet will I bereave them (the Ephraimites) of them (Job 27:14). woe . . . to them when I depart--Yet the ungodly in their madness desire God to depart from them (Job 21:14; Job 22:17; Mat 8:34). At last they know to their cost how awful it is when God has departed (Deu 31:17; Sa1 28:15-16; compare Hos 9:11; Sa1 4:21).”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Though they bring up children - God had threatened to deprive them of children, in every stage before or at their birth. Now, beyond this, he tells them, as to those who should escape this sentence, he would bereave them of them, or make them childless. That there shall not be a man left - Literally, “from man.” The brief word may be filled up, as the English Version has done (by not infrequent an idiom): (1) “from there being a man;” or (2) “from” among “men;” as Samuel said to Agag (1 Samuel 15:33; add Proverbs 30:14), “as thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women;” or (3) “from” becoming “men,” i. e., from reaching man’s estate. The prophet, in any…”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · 18th-century historical commentary
“Not a man left - There shall be a total extirpation of them. When I depart - To compleat their misery, I will depart from them. It is sad to lose our children, but sadder to lose our God. Hosea 9:13”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“yet: Hos 9:13, Hos 9:16; Deu 28:32, Deu 28:41, Deu 28:42, Deu 32:25; Job 27:14; Jer 15:7, Jer 16:3, Jer 16:4; Lam 2:20 not: Num 26:65; Jdg 4:16 woe: Hos 9:5, Hos 9:6, Hos 7:13; Deu 31:17; Sa1 16:14, Sa1 28:15, Sa1 28:16; Kg2 17:18, Kg2 17:23 Hosea 9:13”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification