9
Forכִּיtheyהֵמָּהhave gone upעָלוּto Assyria,אַשּׁוּרa wild donkeyפֶּרֶאaloneבּוֹדֵדby himself;לוֹEphraimאֶפְרַיִםhas hiredהִתְנוּlovers.אֲהָבִים
Hosea 8:9
Study it in the app“For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey alone by himself; Ephraim has hired lovers.”
With the Hebrew beneath
Hosea 8:9, word by word
- have gone upעָלוּalu
go up
To go from a low place to a higher one: up the mountain, to Jerusalem or to a city.
Where else “alu” appears- to Assyriaאַשּׁוּרashur
Assyria, Asshur
See it on the mapWhere else “ashur” appears- a wild donkeyפֶּרֶאpere
wild donkey
Wild donkey of the desert: a free animal no one tames. The image speaks of someone independent.
Where else “pere” appears- aloneבּוֹדֵדboded
alone, apart
Alone, apart from the others.
Where else “boded” appears- Ephraimאֶפְרַיִםefrayim
Ephraim
Ephraim, the second son of Joseph; also the tribe that came from him and its land, and later a name of the northern kingdom. The name sounds like "be fruitful".
Where else “efrayim” appears- has hiredהִתְנוּhitnu
hire, pay
To pay or hire with gifts; said of paying lovers, of a people buying allies as one pays for a prostitute.
Where else “hitnu” appears- loversאֲהָבִיםahavim
love, lovemaking
Love, caresses; the love between husband and wife (or, in a bad sense, seduction).
Where else “ahavim” appears
Places in this verse
Assyria
Today: northern Iraq (with parts of Syria, Turkey, Iran)
An empire of northern Mesopotamia along the Tigris River, in present-day Iraq.
Assyria took the northern kingdom of Israel captive (2 Kgs 17:6). God sent Jonah to preach in Nineveh, its capital (Jonah 3:3).
The context
8Israel is swallowed; now they have become among the nations like a vessel in which there is no delight.
9 · This verse (above)
10Even though they hire among the nations, now I will gather them, and they will begin to diminish a little from the burden of the king of princes.