Hosea 8:9
New International Version
For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.

New Living Translation
Like a wild donkey looking for a mate, they have gone up to Assyria. The people of Israel have sold themselves— sold themselves to many lovers.

English Standard Version
For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.

Berean Standard Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey on its own. Ephraim has hired lovers.

King James Bible
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

New King James Version
For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey alone by itself; Ephraim has hired lovers.

New American Standard Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has paid fees for lovers.

NASB 1995
For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.

NASB 1977
For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.

Legacy Standard Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.

Amplified Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey wandering alone and taking her own way; Ephraim has hired lovers (pagan allies).

Christian Standard Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey going off on its own. Ephraim has paid for love.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey going off on its own. Ephraim has paid for love.

American Standard Version
For they are gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Gifts because they came up to Assyria like a lone donkey; Aphreim has loved

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For they have gone up to the Assyrians: Ephraim has been strengthened against himself; they loved gifts.

Contemporary English Version
You are like a wild donkey that goes its own way. You've run off to Assyria and hired them as allies.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath given gifts to his lovers.

English Revised Version
For they are gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"The people of Israel went to Assyria. They were like wild donkeys wandering off alone. The people of Ephraim sold themselves to their lovers.

Good News Translation
Stubborn as wild donkeys, the people of Israel go their own way. They have gone off to seek help from Assyria and have paid other nations to protect them.

International Standard Version
"Because they went over to Assyria, they are like a wild donkey alone by itself. Ephraim has hired some lovers.

JPS Tanakh 1917
For they are gone up to Assyria, Like a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim hath hired lovers.

Literal Standard Version
For they have gone up [to] Asshur, | A wild donkey alone by himself [is] Ephraim, | They have hired lovers!

Majority Standard Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey on its own. Ephraim has hired lovers.

New American Bible
For they went up to Assyria— a wild ass off on its own— Ephraim bargained for lovers.

NET Bible
They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers.

New Revised Standard Version
For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass wandering alone; Ephraim has bargained for lovers.

New Heart English Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.

Webster's Bible Translation
For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

World English Bible
For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.

Young's Literal Translation
For they -- they have gone up to Asshur, A wild ass alone by himself is Ephraim, They have hired lovers!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel will Reap the Whirlwind
8Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel. 9For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey on its own. Ephraim has hired lovers. 10Though they hire allies among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to diminish under the oppression of the king of princes.…

Cross References
Job 39:6
I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling.

Jeremiah 2:24
a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.

Ezekiel 16:33
Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.

Ezekiel 16:34
So your prostitution is the opposite of that of other women: No one solicited your favors, and you paid a fee instead of receiving one; so you are the very opposite!

Ezekiel 23:5
Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians--warriors

Hosea 5:13
When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.

Hosea 7:11
So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove--calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.


Treasury of Scripture

For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim has hired lovers.

they.

Hosea 5:13
When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.

Hosea 7:11
Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

2 Kings 15:19
And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.

a wild.

Job 39:5-8
Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? …

Jeremiah 2:24
A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

hath.

Hosea 2:5-7,10
For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink…

Hosea 12:1
Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.

Isaiah 30:6
The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

lovers.

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Alone Ass Asshur Assyria Donkey Ephraim E'phraim Herself Hired Lovers Money Sold Wandering Wild
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Alone Ass Asshur Assyria Donkey Ephraim E'phraim Herself Hired Lovers Money Sold Wandering Wild
Hosea 8
1. Destruction is threatened both to Israel and Judah for their impiety and idolatry.














(9) Gone up to Assyria.--The word thus translated is elsewhere used for "going up" to the sanctuary of the Lord. (See Note on Hosea 7:11.) Wild ass is the image of untamed waywardness (Job 39:5, sea.) it is described by Wetzstein as inhabiting the steppes, a creature of dirty yellow colour, with long ears and no horns, and a head resembling a gazelle's. Its pace is so swift that no huntsman can overtake it. It is seldom seen alone, but in herds of several hundreds. From Jeremiah 2:24 we infer that the animal wanders alone after the object of its lust. Israel, like a solitary wild ass, seeks strange loves, courts strange alliances. On the last clause, see Ezekiel 16:32-34. Ephraim pays abnormally for her own shame.

Verse 9. - For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers. All their misery and misfortune they have brought upon themselves. They have prepared this fate for themselves, and made themselves meet for their fate. The second clause is correctly rendered, a wild ass goes alone by itself; and this clause is an independent statement - not connected by n- of comparison either with the clause preceding nor with the succeeding one. Instead of saying that Epraim, that is, Israel, went up to Assyria like a stubborn wild ass alone by itself, or that like a wild ass going alone Ephraim hired (sued for) lovers, the statement stands independent and in a measure detached, the meaning being that even a wild ass, stupid and stubborn as that animal is, keeps by itself to secure its independence. The conduct of Israel, however, appears to disadvantage in contrast with that of a stupid wild ass; it is more stupid and senseless; their folly is seen by the comparison: it maintained its independence by going alone, Ephraim lost independence by soliciting help from heathen allies. What, then, was the object to the attainment of which this foolish conduct was directed? In other words, why did Israel go on this stupid mission to Assyria? What did they seek to gain by it? The third clause contains the answer: they sought help and succor from the Assyrians. Thus the first clause, giving a reason for their calamity, shows it was self-procured by Ephraim going up to Assyria; the second clause exposes the folly of such conduct in seeking prohibited and pernicious foreign alliances; the third clause specifies the precise object of Ephraim's sinful and foolish mission, namely, the procuring of succor from Assyria. The above explanation,

(1) which is in substance Keil's, and which is a contrast between the independence of the wild ass and Ephraim's servile suing for foreign help, is, we think, simpler and more correct than

(2) the common one, which is a comparison of the willfulness, waywardness, and wantonness of the wild ass roaming solitarily by itself with Ephraim's willful waywardness in going up to Assyria for succor, and wantonness in suing for idolatrous alliances. The expression, "going up," alludes to going to the interior of the country, or to the capital of the monarch Assyria now owned as sovereign, or to a place of refuge. The hiring of lovers, or lover, by Ephraim stigmatizes their shameful conduct as that of a shameless harlot, who, instead of receiving, bestows presents on lovers, or as the reward of endearments.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
For
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they
הֵ֙מָּה֙ (hêm·māh)
Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

have gone up
עָל֣וּ (‘ā·lū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5927: To ascend, in, actively

to Assyria
אַשּׁ֔וּר (’aš·šūr)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 804: Ashshur

like a wild donkey
פֶּ֖רֶא (pe·re)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6501: A wild donkey

on its own.
בּוֹדֵ֣ד (bō·w·ḏêḏ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 909: To be separate, isolated

Ephraim
אֶפְרַ֖יִם (’ep̄·ra·yim)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 669: Ephraim -- a son of Joseph, also his descendants and their territory

has hired
הִתְנ֥וּ (hiṯ·nū)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 8566: To present, bargain with

lovers.
אֲהָבִֽים‪‬‪‬ (’ă·hā·ḇîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 158: Love (noun)


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OT Prophets: Hosea 8:9 For they have gone up to Assyria (Ho Hs Hos.)
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