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Hosea

About this book
Chapter 11

1 “When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son, and I summoned my son out of Egypt.⁠ 2 But the more I summoned them, the farther they departed from me. They sacrificed to the Baal idols and burned incense to images. 3 Yet it was I who led Ephraim; I took them by the arm, but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them. 4 I drew them with leather cords, with straps of hide; I lifted the yoke from their neck and gently fed them. 5 They will return to Egypt! Assyria will rule over them because they refuse to repent! 6 A sword will flash in their cities; it will destroy the bars of their city gates, and will devour them in their fortresses. 7 My people are obsessed with turning away from me; they call to Baal, but he will never exalt them! 8 “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel?⁠ How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim?⁠ I have had a change of heart. All my tender compassions are aroused.⁠ 9 I cannot carry out my fierce anger! I cannot totally destroy Ephraim! Because I am God, and not man—the Holy One among you—I will not come in wrath! 10 “He will roar like a lion, and they will follow the Lord; when he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. 11 They will return in fear and trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria, and I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord. 12 (12:1) Ephraim has surrounded me with lies; the house of Israel has surrounded me with deceit. But Judah still roams about with God; he remains faithful to the Holy One.

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 29:23 and Hosea 11:8

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy warns that breaking the covenant would leave the land destroyed like Sodom and its neighbors. Hosea recalls this image but reverses it, comparing Israel to those cities to say God has chosen mercy instead of carrying out that judgment.

Passages

Deuteronomy 29:23

Hebrew Bible
21 The Lord will single him out for judgment from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law. 22 The generation to come—your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places—will see the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it. 23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger. 24 Then all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Hosea 11:8

Hebrew Bible
6 A sword will flash in their cities; it will destroy the bars of their city gates, and will devour them in their fortresses. 7 My people are obsessed with turning away from me; they call to Baal, but he will never exalt them! 8 “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? I have had a change of heart. All my tender compassions are aroused. 9 I cannot carry out my fierce anger! I cannot totally destroy Ephraim! Because I am God, and not man—the Holy One among you—I will not come in wrath! 10 “He will roar like a lion, and they will follow the Lord; when he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hosea

References

"... A sudden shift provides hope for Israel. After Israel’s full punishment for disloyalty has taken place (through Assyria’s conquest and exile of Israel), Yahweh will restore his people. This follows the pattern of events predicted in Deuteronomy 4:25–31. In exile, Israel will turn back to Yahweh. On the basis of this repentance, Yahweh will restore the nation: “Yahweh your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon or destroy you, or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath” (verse 31). Hosea 11:8–11 poetically renews this promise. As a nation in the land of Canaan, Israel was finished. But in terms of God’s plans for the world, his people’s history had just entered its second stage. The sayings which follow must be understood in this light ..."
Douglas Stuart, Word Biblical Commentary: Hosea-Jonah (New York: HarperCollins, 2020), 407.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 29:23 and Hosea 11:8

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