Osee 3:4
For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quia dies multos sedebunt filii Israël sine rege, et sine principe, et sine sacrificio, et sine altari, et sine ephod, et sine theraphim.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- διότι ἡμέρας πολλὰς καθήσονται οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ οὐκ ὄντος βασιλέως οὐδὲ ὄντος ἄρχοντος οὐδὲ οὔσης θυσίας οὐδὲ ὄντος θυσιαστηρίου οὐδὲ ἱερατίας οὐδὲ δήλων.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- כִּ֣י יָמִ֣ים רַבִּ֗ים יֵֽשְׁבוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֵ֥ין מֶ֨לֶךְ֙ וְאֵ֣ין שָׂ֔ר וְאֵ֥ין זֶ֖בַח וְאֵ֣ין מַצֵּבָ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין אֵפ֖וֹד וּתְרָפִֽים
Haydock's commentary
Altar. Hebrew, "statue;" matseba instead of mozbé, as (Haydock) others agree with St. Jerome, and there seems to have been no variation in his time.
Theraphim. Images or representations, (Challoner) either good or bad. As the other things mentioned were good, such lawful images as were used in the temple must be meant, 3 Kings vii. 36. (Worthington)
St. Jerome explains it of cherubim. Septuagint, "altar, priesthood, and manifestations (Urim, &c.) being wanting." (Haydock)
Yet some take it in a bad sense. The Jews adhere neither to God nor to idols. (Vatable, &c.)
What misfortune, however, would the latter be? In exile the Jews were deprived of the exercise of their religion, and of their princes. (Calmet)
But this was only a figure of what they endured since they rejected Christ. (Origen, Philoc. i.; St. Jerome)
This wretched state will probably continue till they at last embrace the yoke of Christ, the true king of ages. (Calmet)
Where a note speaks of the Jewish people, the Church teaches that the Passion cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine City of God, Of the Things Pertaining to the Gospel of Christ Which Hosea and Amos Prohesied
The prophet Hosea speaks so very profoundly that it is laborious work to penetrate his meaning. But, according to promise, we must insert something from his book. He says, “And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there they shall be called the sons of the living God.” Even the apostles understood this as a prophetic testimony of the calling of the nations who did not formerly belong to God; and because this same people of the Gentiles is itself spiritually among the children of Abraham, and for that reason is rightly called Israel, therefore he goes on to say, “And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together in one, and shall appoint themselves one headship, and shall ascend from the earth.” We should but weaken the savor of this prophetic oracle if we set ourselves to expound it. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Paulinus
8. Genesis, we shall be told, needs no explanation; its topics are too simple, the birth of the world, the origin of the human race, the division of the earth, the confusion of tongues, and the descent of the Hebrews into Egypt! Exodus, no doubt, is equally plain, containing as it does merely an account of the ten plagues, the decalogue, and sundry mysterious and divine precepts! The meaning of Leviticus is of course self-evident, although every sacrifice that it describes, nay more every word that it contains, the description of Aaron’s vestments, and all the regulations connected with the Levites are symbols of things heavenly! The book of Numbers too, are not its very figures, and Balaam’s prophecy, and the forty-two camping places in the wilderness so many mysteries? Deuteronomy also, that is the second law or the foreshadowing of the law of the gospel, does it not, while exhibiting …
St Gregory Nazianzen In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office
4. I am aware then that anarchy and disorder cannot be more advantageous than order and rule, either to other creatures or to men; nay, this is true of men in the highest possible degree, because the interests at stake in their case are greater; since it is a great thing for them, even if they fail of their highest purpose, to be free from sin, to attain at least to that which is second best, restoration from sin. Since this seems right and just, it is, I take it, equally wrong and disorderly that all should wish to rule, and that no one should accept it. For if all men were to shirk this office, whether it must be called a ministry or a leadership, the fair fulness of the Church would be halting in the highest degree, and in fact cease to be fair. …