Oseas 6:4, Oseas 6:5 RVA

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 6:4-6

Evanishing goodness. So froward, heedless, fickle, and incorrigible had Ephraim proved, that God did not know what more he could do with him. The same was true of Judah. The tender mode of speech, "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee?" shows how loath God is to pass from mercy to judgment. His heart yearns for the conversion of the objects of his solicitude. I. PIETY VALUELESS , IF EVANESCENT . ( Hosea 6:4 ) Ephraim arid Judah had fits of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 6:4-9

Israel's inconstant. The Lord had just comforted the truly godly portion of the people; he now turns aside and expostulates with the ungodly. Judah as well as Ephraim—the two tribes and the ten—fell far short, unspeakably short, of the picture of penitence, with the annexed promises, which he had just placed before them. Their state had become so desperate that destruction had become their desert, not because of his severity, but their own sin, themselves being judges. I. THE ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Hosea 6:4

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? - It is common with the prophets, first to set forth the fullness of the riches of God’s mercies in Christ, and then to turn to their own generation, and upbraid them for the sins which withheld the mercies of God from “them,” and were hurrying them to their destruction. In like way Isaiah, Isaiah 2:0, having prophesied that the Gospel should go forth from Zion, turns to upbraid the avarice, idolatry, and pride, through which the judgment of God should come... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Hosea 6:4

Hosea 6:4. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? Or rather, what shall I do for thee? Here the Lord takes up the discourse again in his own person, and gives an answer to the prayer, or promises, of Judah and Israel: as if he had said, How can I give either of you, O Israel and Judah, any tokens of my favour, since there is no sincerity or stability to be found in you? Such is the essential beneficence of God, that he delights to bestow favours on all his creatures; and here, and... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:1-6

Insincere repentance (6:1-6)In view of God’s warning in the previous chapter (see 5:15), the people decide to make a confession of repentance. But their confession is not sincere. They offer it to God in the hope that it will satisfy him and bring from him a speedy response. If God helps them, their future blessings are guaranteed (6:1-3).God sees that the people’s promise to return to him is nothing but words; their hearts have not changed. They have no covenant loyalty towards God, no love... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Hosea 6:4

what . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis and Aporia. App-6 . for. Some codices, with Syriac and Vulgate, read "and". goodness = piety. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - 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 dew that goeth early away."An important witness to the unity of Hosea is evident in the comparisons (morning cloud ... dew), "for they correspond to those in Hosea 6:3"[8] (morning ... latter rain). Any genuine goodness on the part either of Ephraim or of Judah is but a vanishing trace, disappearing like the dew, or the morning cloud."What shall I do unto thee ...? This... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Hosea 6:4

Hosea 6:4. O Ephraim! what shall I do, &c.— This is the answer of the Lord to the prayer or promises of Judah and Israel. Your goodness— חסד chesed. The various senses of this word are well enumerated by Vitringa upon Isaiah 40:6. But the general radical meaning of the word is by none so well developed, as by Mr. Parkhurst. Exuberance is included in the notion of it, in all its applications. The exuberant kindness of God to man; overflowing piety of man towards God; exuberant kindness of... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Hosea 6:4

4. what shall I do unto thee—to bring thee back to piety. What more could be done that I have not done, both in mercies and chastenings ( :-)? At this verse a new discourse begins, resuming the threats (Hosea 5:14). See Hosea 5:14- : on this chapter. goodness—godliness. morning cloud—soon dispersed by the sun (Hosea 13:3). There is a tacit contrast here to the promise of God's grace to Israel hereafter, in Hosea 6:3. His going forth is "as the morning," shining more and more unto the perfect... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Hosea 6:4

The Lord twice asked rhetorically what He would do with Ephraim and Judah. The questions express frustration, helplessness, and despair more than inquiry. The loyal love (Heb. hesed, cf. Hosea 2:19; Hosea 4:1) of these elect nations, expressed in their obedience to Yahweh’s covenant, was as short-lived as the morning fog or as dew. Both disappear quickly, especially in the hot Palestinian sun. read more