Osee 7:11
And Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a heart: they called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians.
Open Osee 7:11 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et factus est Ephraim quasi columba seducta non habens cor. Ægyptum invocabant ; ad Assyrios abierunt.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἦν Ἐφράιμ ὡς περιστερὰ ἄνους, οὐκ ἔχουσα καρδίαν· Αἴγυπτον ἐπεκαλεῖτο, καὶ εἰς Ἀσσυρίους ἐπορεύθησαν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיְהִ֣י אֶפְרַ֔יִם כְּיוֹנָ֥ה פוֹתָ֖ה אֵ֣ין לֵ֑ב מִצְרַ֥יִם קָרָ֖אוּ אַשּׁ֥וּר הָלָֽכוּ
Haydock's commentary
Decoyed. Hebrew, "stupid," chap. iv. 11. The dove is the only bird which is not grieved at the loss of its young. (St. Jerome)
It returns to the same nest, though repeatedly robbed, forgetting past dangers. (Theodoret)
Thus Israel is not reclaimed, though idolatry has so often proved its ruin.
Egypt. Jeroboam had returned thither, and at his return brought about a division of the kingdom, 3 Kings xi. 40. Osee, the last king, applied to Sua, and this provoked the Assyrians to destroy the kingdom. They pretended that it was tributary to them, after Phul had been invited to assist Manahem for a thousand talents, 4 Kings xv. 19., and xvii. 4. Thus was a worldly policy confounded.
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 Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Eustochium
2. It is true that a festival such as the birthday of Saint Peter should be seasoned with more gladness than usual; still our merriment must not forget the limit set by Scripture, and we must not stray too far from the boundary of our wrestling-ground. Your presents, indeed, remind me of the sacred volume, for in it Ezekiel decks Jerusalem with bracelets, Baruch receives letters from Jeremiah, and the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove at the baptism of Christ. But to give you, too, a sprinkling of pepper and to remind you of my former letter, I send you to-day this three-fold warning. Cease not to adorn yourself with good works, the true bracelets of a Christian woman. Rend not the letter written on your heart as the profane king cut with his penknife that delivered to him by Baruch. Let not Hosea say to you as to Ephraim, “Thou art like a silly dove.”