Foreigners consume his strength, but he does not notice. Even his hair is streaked with gray, but he does not know.
Parallel translations
- WEB Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t realize it. Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn’t realize it.
- KJV Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.
- NKJV Aliens have devoured his strength, But he does not know it; Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, Yet he does not know it.
- NASB Strangers devour his strength, Yet he does not know it; Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him, Yet he does not know it.
- NLT Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength, but they don’t even know it. Their hair is gray, but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Foreigners drain Ephraim's strength and old age creeps upon him, yet he remains blind to his decline.
Overview
Israel's reliance on foreign powers has sapped its vitality, and gray hairs of weakness appear unnoticed. The double note that "he doesn't realize it" emphasizes the deadly blindness of sin, which conceals its own ruin. Such self-deception shows why the gospel must open blind eyes to see both our peril and our Savior.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Hos 8:7For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
- Isa 42:22–25But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!”
- Isa 1:7Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.
- 2 Kgs 13:3–7So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad.
- Prov 23:35“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
- 2 Kgs 13:22And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz.
- Isa 57:1The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
- 2 Kgs 15:19Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver in order to gain his support and strengthen his own grip on the kingdom.
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Christ at the center
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 7:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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