Hosea 11 · Verse 8

Hosea 11:8

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
Hosea 11:8, King James Version

Hosea 11:8 in other translations

BSBHow could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!
WEB“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.
ASVHow shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I cast thee off, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboiim? my heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together.
YLTHow do I give thee up, O Ephraim? Do I deliver thee up, O Israel? How do I make thee as Admah? Do I set thee as Zeboim? Turned in Me is My heart, kindled together have been My repentings.
DARBYHow shall I give thee over, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee up, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
BBEHow may I give you up, O Ephraim? how may I be your saviour, O Israel? how may I make you like Admah? how may I do to you as I did to Zeboim? My heart is turned in me, it is soft with pity.
WebsterHow shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? my heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

What does Hosea 11:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
8. as Admah ... Zeboim--among the cities, including Sodom and Gomorrah, irretrievably overthrown (De 29:23). heart is turned within me--with the deepest compassion, so as not to execute My threat (La 1:20; compare Ge 43:30; 1Ki 3:26). So the phrase is used of a new turn given to the feeling (Psa 105:25). repentings--God speaks according to human modes of thought (Nu 23:19). God's seeming change is in accordance with His secret everlasting purpose of love to His people, to magnify His grace after their desperate rebellion.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 8 How shall I give thee up - See the notes on Hos 6:4, where we have similar words from similar feeling. Mine heart is turned within me - Justice demands thy punishment; Mercy pleads for thy life. As thou changest, Justice resolves to destroy, or Mercy to save. My heart is oppressed, and I am weary with repenting - with so frequently changing my purpose. All this, though spoken after the manner of men, shows how merciful, compassionate, and loath to punish the God of heaven is. What sinner or saint upon earth has not been a subject of these gracious operations?

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Hosea 11:8-12
God is slow to anger, and is loth to abandon a people to utter ruin, who have been called by his name. When God was to give a sacrifice for sin, and a Saviour for sinners, he spared not his own Son, that he might spare us. This is the language of the day of his patience; but when men sin that away, then the great day of his wrath comes. Man's compassions are nothing in comparison with the tender mercies of our God, whose thoughts and ways, in receiving returning sinners, are as much above ours as heaven is above the earth. God knows how to pardon poor sinners. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and therein declares his righteousness, now Christ has purchased the pardon, and he has promised it. Holy trembling at the word of Christ will draw us to him, not drive us from him, the children tremble, and flee to him. And all that come at the gospel call, shall have a place and a name in the gospel church. The religious service of Israel were mere hypocrisy, but in Judah regard was had to God's laws, and the people followed their pious forefathers. Let us be faithful: those who thus honour God, he will honour, but such us despise Him shall be lightly esteemed.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Hosea 11:8 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אֵ֞יךְ'eikhhow?H349
אֶתֶּנְךָ֣'e.ten.Khawill I give up youH5414
אֶפְרַ֗יִם'ef.Ra.yimO EphraimH669
אֲמַגֶּנְךָ֙'a.ma.gen.Khawill I deliver up? youH4042
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'ElO IsraelH3478
אֵ֚יךְ'eikhhow?H349
אֶתֶּנְךָ֣'e.ten.Khawill I make youH5414
כְאַדְמָ֔הkhe.'ad.Mahlike AdmahH126
אֲשִֽׂימְךָ֖'a.si.me.Khawill I make? youH7760
כִּצְבֹאיִ֑םkitz.vo.Yimlike ZeboiimH6636
נֶהְפַּ֤ךְneh.Pakhit has been changedH2015
עָלַי֙'a.Laion meH5921
לִבִּ֔יli.Biheart myH3820
יַ֖חַדYa.chadtogetherH3162
נִכְמְר֥וּnikh.me.Ruthey have grown warmH3648
נִחוּמָֽי\׃ni.chu.Maicompassions myH5150

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Hosea 11:8

  • Jeremiah 31:20

    Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.

  • Hosea 6:4

    O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

  • Matthew 23:37

    O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

  • Deuteronomy 32:36

    For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

  • Jude 1:7

    Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

  • Deuteronomy 29:23

    And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

  • Amos 4:11

    I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

  • 2 Samuel 24:16

    And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

  • Lamentations 1:20

    Behold, O Lord; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

  • 2 Peter 2:6

    And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

  • Genesis 14:8

    And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;

  • Genesis 19:24-25

    Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
How shall I give.
6:4; Jer 9:7; La 3:33; Mt 23:37; Lu 19:41,42
Admah.
Ge 14:8; 19:24,25; De 29:23; Isa 1:9,10; Am 4:11; Zep 2:9; 2Pe 2:6
Jude 1:7; Re 11:8; 18:18
Mine.
De 32:36; Jud 10:16; 2Sa 24:16; 2Ki 13:23; Ps 106:45; Isa 63:15
Jer 3:12; 31:20; Am 7:3,6
heart.
La 1:20

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Hosea 11:7

    And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

  • Hosea 11:8

    How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

  • Hosea 11:9

    I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

Read all of Hosea 11

Hosea 11:8 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
¿Cómo tengo de dejarte, oh Ehpraim? ¿he de entregarte yo, Israel? ¿cómo podré yo hacerte como Adma, ni ponerte como á Zeboim? Mi corazón se revuelve dentro de mí, inflámanse todas mis conmiseraciones.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Que ferai-je de toi, Éphraïm? Comment te livrerais-je, Israël? Comment ferais-je de toi comme d’Adma, te rendrais-je tel que Tseboïm? Mon cœur est changé en moi; toutes ensemble, mes compassions se sont émues.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Wie sollte ich dich hingeben, Ephraim, dich überliefern, Israel? Wie sollte ich dich wie Adama machen, wie Zeboim dich setzen? Mein Herz hat sich in mir umgewendet, erregt sind alle meine Erbarmungen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Quomodo dabo te, Ephraim? protegam te, Israël? Quomodo dabo te sicut Adama, ponam te ut Seboim? Conversum est in me cor meum, pariter conturbata est pœnitudo mea.