Osee 3:5
And after this the children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king: and they shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the last days.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et post hæc revertentur filii Israël, et quærent Dominum Deum suum, et David regem suum : et pavebunt ad Dominum, et ad bonum ejus, in novissimo dierum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπιστρέψουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐπιζητήσουσιν Κύριον τὸν θεὸν αὐτῶν καὶ Δαυεὶδ τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐκστήσονται ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- אַחַ֗ר יָשֻׁ֨בוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וּבִקְשׁוּ֙ אֶת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֔ם וְאֵ֖ת דָּוִ֣ד מַלְכָּ֑ם וּפָחֲד֧וּ אֶל יְהוָ֛ה וְאֶל טוּב֖וֹ בְּאַחֲרִ֥ית הַיָּמִֽים
Haydock's commentary
David, their king. That is, Christ, who is of the house of David. (Challoner)
After the captivity, the Jews submitted to Zorobabel. Yet this only foreshewed a more sincere conversion to Jesus Christ. In fact, the house of David never regained the throne, (Calmet) and it is not clear that Zorobabel had any authority over the people. (Haydock)
Christ is the literal object of this prediction. (Calmet)
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 John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew I. 1
6. But wherefore did he not say, “the Son of Abraham,” and then “the Son of David?” It is not, as some suppose, that he means to proceed upward from the lower point, since then he would have done the same as Luke, but now he doth the contrary. Why then hath he made mention of David? The man was in the mouths of all, both from his distinction, and from the time, for he had not been so very long since dead, like Abraham. And though God made promises to both, yet the one, as old, was passed over in silence, while the other, as fresh and recent, was repeated of all. Themselves, for instance, say, “Doth not Christ come of the seed of David, and out of Bethlehem, the town where David was?” And no man called Him Son of Abraham, but all Son of David; and that because this last was more in the recollection of all, both on account of the time, as I have already said, and because of his royalty. …