Hosea 12 · Verse 7

Hosea 12:7

He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
Hosea 12:7, King James Version

Hosea 12:7 in other translations

BSBA merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.
WEBA merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.
ASVHe is a trafficker, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
YLTCanaan! in his hand are balances of deceit! To oppress he hath loved.
DARBYHe is a merchant, balances of deceit are in his hand; he loveth to oppress.
BBEAs for Canaan, the scales of deceit are in his hands; he takes pleasure in twisted ways.
WebsterHe is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.

What does Hosea 12:7 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
7. merchant--a play on the double sense of the Hebrew, "Canaan," that is, a Canaanite and a "merchant" Eze 16:3: "Thy birth is ... of Canaan." They who naturally were descendants of pious Jacob had become virtually Canaanites, who were proverbial as cheating merchants (compare Is 23:11, Margin), the greatest reproach to Israel, who despised Canaan. The Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites or merchants (Is 23:8). oppress--open violence: as the "balances of deceit" imply fraud.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 7 He is a merchant - Or a Canaanite; referring to the Phoenicians, famous for their traffic. Ephraim is as corrupt as those heathenish traffickers were. He kept, as many in all ages have done, a weight and a weight; a heavy one to buy with and a light one to sell by.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Hosea 12:7-14
Ephraim became a merchant: the word also signifies a Canaanite. They carried on trade upon Canaanitish principles, covetously and with fraud and deceit. Thus they became rich, and falsely supposed that Providence favoured them. But shameful sins shall have shameful punishments. Let them remember, not only what a mighty prince Jacob was with God, but what a servant he was to Laban. The benefits we have had from the word of God, make our sin and folly the worse, if we put any slight upon that word. We had better follow the hardest labour in poverty, than grow rich by sin. We may form a judgment of our own conduct, by comparing it with that of ancient believers in the like circumstances. Whoever despises the message of God, will perish. May we all hear his word with humble, obedient faith.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Hosea 12:7 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.

כְּנַ֗עַןke.Na.'anCanaanH3667
בְּיָד֛וֹbe.ya.Do[who are] in hand hisH3027
מֹאזְנֵ֥יmoz.Neiscales ofH3976
מִרְמָ֖הmir.MahdeceitH4820
לַעֲשֹׁ֥קla.'a.Shokto defraudH6231
אָהֵֽב\׃'a.Hevhe lovesH157

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

Cross references for Hosea 12:7

  • Micah 6:10-11

    Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

  • Proverbs 11:1

    A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.

  • Amos 8:5-6

    Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

  • Leviticus 19:35-36

    Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.

  • Micah 3:1-3

    And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

  • 1 Timothy 6:9-10

    But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

  • Isaiah 3:5

    And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

  • Proverbs 16:11

    A just weight and balance are the Lord’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.

  • 1 Samuel 12:3

    Behold, here I am: witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.

  • Zechariah 14:21

    Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.

  • Malachi 3:5

    And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

  • Amos 5:11

    Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
a merchant. or, Canaan.
Eze 16:3; Zec 14:21; Joh 2:16
the balances.
Le 19:35,36; Pr 11:1; 16:11; Am 8:5,6; Mic 6:10,11; 1Ti 6:9,10
he loveth.
Isa 3:5; Eze 22:29; Am 2:7; 3:9; 4:1; 5:11; Mic 2:1; 3:1-3; 7:2
Mal 3:5; Jas 5:4
oppress. or, deceive.
1Sa 12:3

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

Context

  • Hosea 12:6

    Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

  • Hosea 12:7

    He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.

  • Hosea 12:8

    And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.

Read all of Hosea 12

Hosea 12:7 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Tú pues, conviértete á tu Dios: guarda misericordia y juicio, y en tu Dios espera siempre.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et toi, retourne à ton Dieu, garde la piété et le jugement, et attends-toi à ton Dieu continuellement.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Du denn, kehre um zu deinem Gott; bewahre Güte und Recht, und hoffe beständig auf deinen Gott.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Chanaan, in manu ejus statera dolosa, calumniam dilexit.