Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them of their children until not a person is left. Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them!
Parallel translations
- WEB Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them, so that not a man shall be left. Indeed, woe also to them when I depart from them!
- KJV Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
- BSB Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!
- NKJV Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!
- NLT Even if you do have children who grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone.
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
Even if they raise children, God will bereave them, and woe comes upon them when He departs.
Overview
Any children who are born will not be spared, and the deepest woe is God's own departure from His people. The withdrawal of His presence is the ultimate judgment, worse than any other loss. This sobering word reveals that the greatest blessing is God with us, fulfilled in Immanuel, and the greatest calamity is to be forsaken by Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Hos 7:13Woe to them! For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
- Hos 9:16Ephraim is struck. Their root has dried up. They will bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.”
- Deut 31:17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
- Deut 32:25Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror; on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.
- 1 Sam 16:14Now Yahweh’s Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him.
- Deut 28:32Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand.
- 2 Kgs 17:18Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
- Jer 15:7I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children. I have destroyed my people. They didn’t return from their ways.
- 1 Sam 28:15–16Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?” Saul answered, “I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answers me no more, by prophets, or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.”
- Hos 9:13I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place; but Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.
- Jer 16:3–4For Yahweh says concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land:
- Hos 9:5–6What will you do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Yahweh?
- Num 26:65For Yahweh had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” There was not a man left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
- Job 27:14If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
- Lam 2:20“Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus! Shall the women eat their offspring, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Deut 28:41–42You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go into captivity.
- 2 Kgs 17:23until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.
- Judg 4:16But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left.
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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 9:12 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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