Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.
Parallel Translations
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Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.
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Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
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(14-10) Whoso is wise, let him understand these things, whoso is prudent, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the just do walk in them; but transgressors do stumble therein.
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Cross-references (38)
Passages linked to Hosea 14:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 10:29 The way of Yahweh is a stronghold to the upright, but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
- Psalms 107:43 Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things. They will consider the loving kindnesses of Yahweh.
- John 8:47 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”
- Daniel 12:10 Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked will do wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand; but those who are wise will understand.
- Proverbs 1:5-6 that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel: to understand a proverb, and parables, the words and riddles of the wise.
- Psalms 19:7-8 Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple. Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.
- Deuteronomy 32:4 The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.
- Isaiah 26:7 The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.
- Jeremiah 9:12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
- Zephaniah 3:5 Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.
- Genesis 18:25 May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- Psalms 119:75 Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous, that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
- Psalms 119:128 Therefore I consider all of your precepts to be right. I hate every false way.
- Luke 7:23 Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”
- John 18:37 Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
- 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved and in those who perish: to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
- 1 Peter 2:7-8 For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” and, “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.
- Job 34:10-12 “Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. For the work of a man he will render to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yes surely, God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice.
- Job 34:18-19 Who says to a king, ‘Vile!’ or to nobles, ‘Wicked!’? He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
- Psalms 84:5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.
- Psalms 84:7 They go from strength to strength. Every one of them appears before God in Zion.
- Psalms 111:7-8 The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure. They are established forever and ever. They are done in truth and uprightness.
- Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- Isaiah 1:28 But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.
- Isaiah 8:13-15 Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread. He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a stumbling stone and a rock that makes them fall. For the people of Jerusalem, he will be a trap and a snare. Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.”
- Ezekiel 18:25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal?
- Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”
- Matthew 13:11-12 He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.
- Luke 2:34 and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against.
- Luke 4:28-29 They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff.
- John 3:19-20 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
- John 9:39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
- John 15:24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.
- Romans 7:12 Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
- Romans 9:32-33 Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone; even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
- Job 17:9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
- Ezekiel 33:17-20 “ ‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’ ”
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet, I have no doubt, very often inculcated…
The Prophet, I have no doubt, very often inculcated what he here says, and frequently recalled it to mind, for we know that he had a constant struggle with extreme obstinacy. It was not only for one day that he found the people hard and perverse, but through the whole course of his preaching. Since then the Israelites continued, either openly to despise the Prophet’s teaching, or at least to regard as fables what they heard from his mouth, or to chide him in words, and even to threaten him, when he treated them with severity and when the Prophet saw that the wickedness of the people was irreclaimable, he, being armed with confidence, no doubt went forth very often among them, and said “Ye think that you shall be unpunished, while ye make a mock of what I teach; ye shall surely find at last that the ways of the Lord are right.” And I have already reminded you, that the Prophets, after having harangued the people at large and in many words, reduced at last into brief heads what they had taught; for it is not probable, that since Hosea had so long discharged the office of a teacher, he had spoken only these few things, which might have been gone through in three hours. This is absurd. But when he had diligently attended to the office deputed to him, he afterwards, as I have said, collected together these few chapters, that the remembrance of his teaching might be perpetuated. What he was constrained then often to repeat, he now lays down at the end of his book, that it might be as it were a complete sealing up of his teaching.
Who is wise, he says, and he will understand these things? who is intelligent, and he will know them? This interrogatory mode is expressive; for Hosea was amazed at the fewness of those who yielded themselves to be taught by God. The Israelites no doubt, arrogated to themselves great wisdom, as ungodly men are wont to do. For they seem to themselves to be then especially acute, when they laugh at every thing like piety, when they treat God’s name with scorn, and indulge themselves, as we see at this day, in their own impiety. And this diabolical rage lays hold on many, because they think that they would be very simple and stupid, were they to embrace any thing the Scripture contains. “O! what is faith but foolish credulity?” This is the thought that comes to their minds. There are also filthy dogs, who hesitate not to vomit forth such a reproach as this, “Only believe! But what is this thy believing, but wilfully to give up all judgement and all choice, and to allow thyself to be like mute cattle driven here and there? If then thou art wise, believe nothing.” Thus godless men speak; and hence, as I have said, they pride themselves on their own acuteness, when they can shake off every fear of God and all regard for divine truth. There were many such, we may easily believe, in the time of the Prophet. Since then the whole land was filled with dreadful contempt of God, and yet men commonly thought themselves wise, nay, imagined in their deep thoughts, as Isaiah says, that they could deceive God, he now asks, Who is wise, and he will understand? As though he said, “I indeed see, that if I believe you, ye are all wise; for, imitating the giants, ye dare to rise up against God, and ye think yourselves ingenious when ye elude every truth, when ye proudly tread religion under foot; in this way ye are all wise. But at the same time, if there be any grain of wisdom in you, you must surely acknowledge me to be sent by God, and that what I declare is not the invention of men, but the word of the living God.” We now then see what force there is in this question, when the Prophet says, Who is wise, and he will understand these things? Who is intelligent, and he will know them?
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We at the same time see that the Prophet here condemns all the wisdom of men, and as it were thunders from heaven against the pride of those who thus presumptuously mock God; for how much soever they imagined themselves to be pre-eminent, he intimates that they were both blind and stupid and mad. Who then is wise? he says. But at the same time, he shows that the true wisdom of men is to obey God and to embrace his word; as it is said in another place, that wisdom and the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, (Proverbs 1:7.) Whosoever then wishes to be truly wise, he must begin with the fear of God and with reverence to his word; for where there is no religion, men cannot certainly understand any thing aright. Let us suppose men endued, not only with great clearness of mind, but also with the knowledge of all the sciences; let them be philosophers, let them be physicians, let them be lawyers, let nothing be wanting to them, except that they have no true knowledge of eternal life, would it not be better for them to be mere cattle than to be thus wise, to exercise their minds for a short time on fading things, and to know that all their highly valued treasure shall perish with their life? Surely to be thus wise is far more wretched than if men were wholly void of understanding. Justly then does the Prophet intimate here that those were not only foolish, but also mad, and wholly destitute of all understanding, who regarded not celestial truth, and were deaf to the Prophets, and discerned not when God spake, nor understood the power of his word. All then who are not thus wise, the Prophet justly says, are utterly void of all prudence and judgement: he therefore repeats the same thing, Who is wise, and he will understand these things? Who is intelligent, and he will know them? that is, “If any excels others, he ought surely to show in this particular his wisdom, and if any one is endued with common understanding, he ought to know what this doctrine means, in which the image and glory of God shine forth brightly. All then who know and understand nothing in this respect are no doubt altogether foolish.”
He afterwards adds, For right are the ways of Jehovah He alleges this truth in opposition to the profane rashness of men, who haughtily reject God, and dare to despise his word. Right, he says, are the ways of the Lord: and by saying that they are right, he no doubt glances at the abominable blasphemies which the ungodly have recourse to, when they wish to render the word of God not only odious and contemptible, but also absurd, so as not to deserve any respect. Thus we see at this day, that godless men not only in words reject both the Law and the Prophets, but also search out pretences, that they may appear to be doing right in destroying all faith in the oracles of God. For instance, they seek out every sort of contradiction in Scripture, every thing not well received, every thing different from the common opinion, — all these absurdities, as they call them, they collect together, and then they draw this conclusion, that all those are fools, who submit to any religion, since the word of God, as they say, contains so many absurd things. This raving madness prevailed then no doubt in the world: and the Prophet, by saying that right are the ways of Jehovah, means, that how much soever the ungodly may clamour, or murmur, or taunt, nothing is yet done by the Lord but what is right, and free from every blame and defect. However much then the ungodly may vomit forth slanders against the word of God, it is the same as if they threw dust into the air to darken the light of the sun; just so much they effect, he seems to say, by their audacity: for perfect rectitude will ever be found in the ways of the Lord; his word will ever be found free from every stain or defect.
He then adds, And the just shall walk in them, but in them shall the ungodly stumble By saying that the just shall walk in them, he confirms the last sentence by experience, for the just really find the ways of the Lord to be right We ought also to be furnished with this assurance, if we would boldly repel all the impious calumnies, which are usually heaped together by profane men against the word of God: for if we know not what it is to walk in the ways of the Lord, we shall surely, as soon as any thing is alleged against them, be suspended in doubt, or be wholly upset; for we see that many, not deeply rooted in the word of God, instantly quail, as soon as any thing is said against it, because they know not what it is to walk in the ways of the Lord; but they who walk in the Lord’s ways courageously fight against all the temptations of the world; they carry on the context that they may attain celestial life; they feel assured that though now miserable for a time, they shall yet be blessed, for they have embraced the grace of God in Christ; they are sustained too by their own conscience, so that they can look down on all the reproaches and slanders of the world, and proceed onward in their course. They then who thus walk in the ways of the Lord are unconquerable; yea, were the whole world to oppose them, and were the ungodly with their profane words to infect the whole atmosphere, the godly would still pursue their course until they reached the end. All the ways of Jehovah are therefore right, the just shall walk in them; but in them shall the ungodly stumble, or fall; for כשל, cashel, means both, but I prefer rendering it “stumble,” as it seems more suitable to the design of the Prophet. The just then find a plain and an even way in the word of the Lord, and nothing stands in their path to obstruct their course, and by daily advances they attain that to which the Lord calls them, even their celestial inheritance. The just shall thus walk in the Lord’s ways, because the Lord will lead them, as it were, by his hand; faith will be to them for hundred eyes, and also for wings: and hope, at the same time, sustains them; for they are armed with promises and encouragements; they have also stimulants, whenever the Lord earnestly exhorts them; they have, besides, in his threatenings, such terrors as keep them awake. Thus then the faithful find in the word of the Lord the best ways, and they follow them. But what of the ungodly? They imagine all doubts, even the least, to be mountains: for as soon as they meet with any thing intricate or obscure, they are confounded, and says “I would gladly seek to know the Holy Scriptures but I meet with so many difficulties.” Hence when a doubt is suggested, they regard it as a mountain; nay, they purposely pretend doubts, that they may have some excuse, when they wish to evade the truth, and turn aside that they may not follow the Lord. The ungodly, then, stumble in the ways of Jehovah. But this ought to be read adversatively, “Though the ungodly stumble, yet the just shall always walk in the ways of Jehovah;” which means, that there is no reason why the ungodly should stop or retard us by their continual stumbling, and by exclaiming that the word of God is full of what gives offence; for we shall find in it an even way, only let us ascribe to God this glory, that he is just, and that his ways are right. This is the meaning of the sentence.
End of the Prophecies of Hosea
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain God showeth how prompt he is to hear his,…
God showeth how prompt he is to hear his, when they repent, and to offer himself, as a protection and safeguard unto them, as a most sufficient fruit and profit.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 14:9 Who [is] wise, and he shall understand…
Hos 14:9 Who [is] wise, and he shall understand these [things]? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD [are] right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
Ver. 9. Who is wise and he shall understand these things] A pathetic perclose, whereby the prophet (orator-like) would leave a sting in the hearts of his hearers, and so seal up, and set on all that he had said before, conclusio gnomica, exclamatio emphatica.
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Who is wise?] q.d. I could wish there were more; but I see there are not many. Store there are of fools, Stultorum plena aunt omnia, such dust-heaps there are in every corner to be found, not a few that either know not the will of God, or stumble at it. "But who hath known the mind of the Lord?" 1Co 2:16. "Who among you will give ear to this? Who hath believed our report? or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who is the wise man, that may understand this?" Isa 42:23; Isa 53:1 Jer 9:12. Lucerna accensa hominem quaerebat Aesopus. Jeremiah was bidden run to and fro to find a man that sought the truth, v. 1. Rari quippe boni (Juven. Sat. 13). Not many wise, wise, I mean, to salvation, 2Ti 3:15, that make sure work for their souls, and draw their wisdom from God’s holy word, from the mine of the mystery of Christ, Psa 119:98-99. All others are "foolish people, sottish children; they have no understanding," Jer 4:22, be they never so shrewd and of deep reach for the world, be they never so wise in their generation. The fox is so in his; and the devil in his, for when he was but young he outwitted our first parents, 2Co 11:3, who yet were no babes, simple and weak in understanding, as the Socinians affirm them to have been or else they would not (say they) have so sinned. A fond conceit, and without footing in God’s holy word, where we find that they were created in God’s image, which consisteth in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, as saith the apostle, Eph 4:24.
And he shall understand these things] "Which none of the princes of this world know," 1Co 2:8, because their learning hangs in their light; and, like moles, they dig dexterously under-ground, but are blind above-ground. Sapiens est cui res sapiunt prout sunt, saith Bernard. He is the wise man that savoureth things as they are. And herein lieth the whole wisdom of a man, saith Lactantius, ut Deum cognoscat, et colat, that he know and worship God aright, that with a practical judgment he ponder the words and ways of God, in order to salvation. This is that wisdom that dwelleth with prudence, Pro 8:12. Aristotle, in many places of his works, distinguisheth between wisdom and prudence. Wisdom he maketh to be a right apprehending of truths in general; prudence, an applying them to particular cases and uses. But Socrates said, that there was no such difference; since he that knoweth good things to do them, and evil things to avoid them, is to be held a wise man, and none else. They may seem here to be put for one and the same; since the wise man is said not to know, but to understand, judge, and ponder, and the prudent to know; teaching us, that God calls for a prudent wisdom, and a wise prudence, directing the soul to aa orderly carriage, and a holy care, that godliness (which is the only wisdom) may run through our whole lives, as the woof doth through the web.
For the ways of the Lord are right] Understand it not so much of the ways of predestination, providence, &c., wherein God walks towards us (which yet are all right and equal), as of those ways of his will, word, and worship, wherein he requireth us to walk towards him. These are called the way of God, Mat 22:16, and the way of salvation, Act 16:17, and the way of truth, 2Pe 2:2, and the right way, 2Pe 2:15, and the way of righteousness, 2Pe 2:21. Right these ways are called, or straight. First, because they are conformed to the will of a righteous God, which is the mensura mensurans, the first rule of right, the standard, Non solum recta, sed et regula. Secondly, because the matter of it is holy, and just, and good, a doctrine of righteousness, that teacheth us to give God his due, and men theirs. It is also put for every purpose, Psa 19:7-8 Pro 30:5. Of the Book of Psalms, Athanasius hath observed, that they are so penned that every man may well think they speak de se, in re sun, of himself, and to his own particular necessities. Thirdly, because it rectifieth us, and transformeth us into the same image; it maketh such as deliver up themselves thereunto to walk as patterns of the rule, as a transcript of the word, that dwelleth richly in them, and worketh effectually, as a seed of immortality. Fourthly, because it carrieth us on in a straight line unto a right end without crooking or compassing about, Psa 19:8; Psa 25:4; Psa 125:5. Has vias qui terit, non terit. Pray therefore as David did, Psa 18:29, lest breaking out into byways (all which are highways to hell), or but stepping over the hedge, to avoid a piece of foul way, we brush and bruise ourselves to get in again, break our bones with David.
And the just shall walk in them] Such as are just with a double righteousness, imputed and imparted; that of justification, and this of sanctification: these will choose the way of truth, Psa 119:39; Psa 25:12, and be willing to walk honestly, Heb 13:18, orderly, and by rule, Gal 5:25, accurately, and to the utmost, Eph 5:15, directly and distinctly, eyeing the mark, and propounding to themselves the highest pitch, and the best patterns (στοιχεινακριβως): often comparing themselves with the rule, laying their lives by the line, and reforming their outstrays, Psa 119:59-60, making it the main of their endeavour, that all their deeds may be wrought in God, Joh 3:21. Lo, this is the just man’s practice; and it is here propounded for a precedent.
But the transgressors shall fall therein] They perish from the way, Psa 2:12; they stumble at the Word and fall into perdition, as the Chaldee here hath it; and so show themselves to be transgressors, traitors, rebels, yea, reprobates. See 1Pe 2:8, they "stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." Oh, fearful! "A bridge is made" (saith a reverend divine) "to give us a safe passage over a river, but he who stumbleth on the bridge is in danger to fall into the river. The Word is given us as a means to carry us over hell to heaven; but he who stumbleth and quarrelleth at this means shall fall in thither, from whence otherwise he had been delivered by it." Neither may we think the worse of the Word for this accidental effect of it upon transgressors; since the fault is merely in themselves: as when a lame man stumbleth in a plain path, the fault is not in the way, but in the foot. Blear eyes cannot abide the light; nor children endure honey when they have sore mouths. The same sun makes flowers smell sweet, but carrions stink loathsomely. Moses saved the Israelite, killed the Egyptian; and Abigail’s voice pacified David, but made Nabal’s heart died within him as a stone. Oecumenius telleth us that the fragrance of precious ointments is wholesome for doves, but kills the beetle, columbam vegetat, scarabaeum necat. And Aristotle affirmeth, that oil of roses is deadly to vultures, who hunt after only dead men’s carcases. Christ himself, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign to be spoken against, Luk 2:34, for a butt mark, against whom his enemies should shoot the shaft of their gainsayings. To the Jews he became a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness, 1Co 1:23. Let them alone (saith he, concerning the Pharisees, who were offended at his sayings, Mat 15:14). Let them stumble and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken, Isa 8:15. Christ in his ordinances is to reprobates a rock of offence, 2Pe 2:8, but such a rock as that, Jdg 6:21, out of which goeth fire and consumeth them. "For if any love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he is Anathema Maranatha," 1Co 16:22. "Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?" Jer 8:9.
“ Linea ducta mihi est, gratia, Christe, tibi. ”
“By the plumline it has been leading to me, oh Christ by grace to thee”
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?…
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? though not many wise, yet some methinks; now of those few, who is there that will consider what sins God complains of and threatens to punish in his people, what sins God forbade them so much as once to commit, and peremptorily commanded them to turn from when once committed; what duties he required, what promises he proposed, what patience he used toward them while any hope of their amendment, what severity upon their incorrigible sins? Whoso with any tolerable degree of wisdom will view these things, and seriously consider of them, they will understand, and know that the prophet hath given best advice, and that it is the safest course to follow it.
Prudent, and he shall know them? the same thing doubled with elegancy, and to confirm the word, as is usual in Scripture.
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For the ways of the Lord are right; the ways which he would have us walk in towards him, his law, his ordinances of worship, his whole doctrine which directeth our walk, are all righteous and equal. And the ways wherein God walketh toward us, in corrections for sins committed, in suspending his. promises of grace, on conditions of duty, in afflicting or comforting, are all righteous and very equal.
The just shall walk in them; will approve them, all justifying the righteousness of God’s displeasure, and confessing he remembereth mercy in the midst of judgment; and justifying the righteousness of his precepts by endeavouring to observe them.
But the transgressors, wilful, obstinate, and inconsiderate sinners,
shall fall therein; eventually it proves so, they stumble and are offended somewhat at his precepts and commands, but more at his severe judgments; they cast off the one, and vainly hope to shift off the other, till at last they fall under the weight of their own sins and God’s wrath.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?…
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent,
and he shall know them?.... Contained in this book, and particularly in this chapter; which expresses so much of the goodness of God and grace of Christ to Israel; though it may be applied to the whole Scripture, and to all the mysteries and doctrines of the Gospel, respecting Christ and his grace; and be a recommendation of these to the consideration of every wise and prudent man; where he will find enough to exercise his wisdom and understanding; though he need not be discouraged in his search and inquiry into them. It suggests as if there were but few such wise persons, and that they are the only wise men that do know and understand these things; and all others are but fools, let them be thought as wise as they will:
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for the ways of the Lord are right; straight, plain, even, according to the rules of, justice and equity; there is no unrighteousness in them; none in the ways in which he himself walks; either in his ways and methods of grace, his decrees and purposes, his counsels and covenant; or in his providential dispensations; nor in those he directs others to walk in, the paths of faith and doctrine; or the ways of his commandments:
and the just shall walk in them; such as are, justified by the righteousness of Christ, and have ills grace wrought in them, and live righteously; these walk, and continue to walk, in the ways of God; which shows that the doctrine of justification by Christ's implored righteousness is no licentious doctrine:
but the transgressors shall fall therein; the transgressors of the law of God, not being used to his ways, as Kimchi's father observes, stumble in them and fall; or rather, as Jarchi and the Targum, they fall into hell, into ruin and destruction, because they walk not in them; though the sense seems to be, that as Christ himself, so his ways and his word, his doctrines and his ordinances, are stumbling blocks to wicked men, at which they stumble, and fall, and perish; see Luk 2:34 Rom 9:33.
Next: Joel Introduction
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Shall understand - Which the prophet has delivered. The…
Shall understand - Which the prophet has delivered. The ways - The ways which he would have us walk in towards him, his law, his ordinances, his whole doctrine are all righteous and equal. And the ways wherein God walks towards us, in afflicting or comforting are all righteous and equal. Shall walk in them - Will approve them all, justifying the righteousness of God's displeasure, and confessing he remembereth mercy in the midst of judgment. And justifying the righteousness of his precepts by endeavouring to observe them. The transgressors - Wilful, obstinate sinners, stumble and are offended at his commands, but more at his judgments; they cast off the one, and vainly hope to shift off the other, 'till at last they fall under the weight of their own sins and God's wrath.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. Who is wise, and he shall understand…
Verse 9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?] What things? Those which relate to the backslidings, iniquity, and punishment of Israel; and to the mercy and kindness of God in their promised restoration. The things which belong to the work of sin in the heart; the things which belong to the work of grace in the soul; and particularly the things mentioned in this wonderful chapter.
Prudent, and he shall know them?] He who endeavours to understand them, who lays his heart to them, such a person shall understand them.
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For the ways of the Lord are right] This is the conclusion which the prophet makes from the whole. All God's conduct, both in the dispensation of justice and mercy, is right: all as it should be, all as it must be; because he is too wise to err, too good to be unkind.
The just shall walk in them] This is a truth which he will always acknowledge; and illustrate it by a righteous and godly life.
But the transgressors shall fall therein.] Howsoever good they might have been before, if they do not consider the necessity of depending upon God; of receiving all their light, life, power, and love from him; ever evidencing that faith which worketh by love; maintaining an obedient conduct, and having respect to all God's precepts; they shall fall, even in the "way of righteousness." When still using the Divine ordinances, and associating with God's people, they shall perish from the way; and be like Ephraim, who once "spoke trembling," and "was exalted in Israel," who was "God's beloved son," and "called out of Egypt;" yet, by "offending in Baal," giving way to "the idols of his heart," fell from God, fell into the hands of his enemies, and became a wretched thrall in a heathen land.
"Whoso is wise, let him understand these things!
Whoso is prudent, let him know them!"-----
He who is well instructed will make a proper application of what he has here read; will tremble at the threatenings, and embrace the promises, of his God.
The Targum is worthy the most serious attention.
"The ways of the Lord are right, and the just who walk in them shall live for ever; but the ungodly, because they have not walked in them, shall be delivered into hell."
How instructive, how convincing, how awakening, and yet how consolatory, are the words of this prophecy! Reader, lay them to heart. A godly mind cannot consider them in vain; such shall know them, and know that the ways of the Lord are right.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Hos 14:9. Who is wise, &c. — That is,…
Hos 14:9. Who is wise, &c. — That is, who is so truly wise as duly to weigh and consider the important things contained in this prophecy, the duties prescribed, the blessings promised to the obedient, and the judgments threatened to the disobedient? The prophet’s words imply, that there were but few that were endued with such spiritual wisdom and understanding as to do so; but that those who were, would seriously consider and be affected by these things. He shall understand — he shall know them — Those that set themselves to understand and know these things, thereby make it appear that they are truly wise and prudent, and will thereby be made more so; and that many do not understand and know them, is because they are inconsiderate and unwise. Those that are wise in the doing of their duty, that are prudent in practical religion, are most likely to know and understand both the truths and providences of God, which are a mystery to others. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. For the ways of the Lord are right — “The ways of the Lord are both the ways which he himself takes in his moral government of the world, and the ways of godliness which he prescribes to man. These, taken together, are the ways of the Lord, and they are right, or straight,” (as ישׁריםmay be properly rendered,) “because they go straight forward, without deviation, to the end, — the happiness of man, and the glory of God.” And the just shall walk therein — The truly righteous will conform to the will of God, both in his precepts and in his providences, and shall have the comfort of so doing. They shall well understand the mind of God, both in his word and in his works, shall be well reconciled to both, and shall accommodate themselves to God’s intention in both. The righteous shall walk in those ways toward their great end, and shall not come short of it. Bishop Horsley renders this clause, And in them shall the justified proceed, but revolters shall stumble. “In the ways of God,” says he, “as they have been described, the justified, those who by faith in Christ have obtained remission of their sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, shall proceed; they will be making daily and hourly approaches to their journey’s end. They shall be able to advance continually in the understanding of the ways of Providence, and of the way laid out by Jehovah for them. But to the incorrigible enemies of God, the very scheme of mercy itself will be a cause of error, confusion, and ruin.” Thus also Mr. Lowth: “They who are sincerely desirous to know and do the will of God, will be fully satisfied of the reasonableness of his laws, and the methods of his providence, and will readily comply with the directions of both, to the securing of their own eternal happiness; whereas men of perverse and disobedient tempers take offence at God’s commands, and repine against his providence, to their own ruin and perdition. The same sense is expressed in that observation of the son of Sirach, Sir 39:24, As God’s ways are plain to the holy, so they are stumbling blocks to the workers of iniquity. To the same purpose are those words of Christ, Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice, Joh 18:37; and, He that is of God heareth God’s word, chap. Joh 8:47. And St. Peter says, that Christ is become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the disobedient, 1Pe 2:8. The observation of Grotius is very remarkable upon this subject, De Verit. Christian. Relig., lib. 2. c. ult. The doctrine of the gospel was designed to be ‘tanquam lapis Lydius, ad quem ingenia sanabilia explorarentur,’ as a touchstone to try the tempers of men, whether they were corrigible or not.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Who is wise and he shall understand these things?…
Who is wise and he shall understand these things? - The prophet says this, not of the words in which he had spoken, but of the substance. He does not mean that his style was obscure, or that he had delivered the message of God in a way difficult to be understood. This would have been to fail of his object. Nor does he mean that human acuteness is the key to the things of God. He means that those only of a certain character, those “wise,” through God, unto God, will understand the things of God. So the Psalmist, having related some of God’s varied chastenings, mercies and judgments, sums up, “Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord” Psa 107:43. So Asaph says that God’s dealings with the good and bad in this life were “too hard” for him to “understand, until” he “went into the sanctuary of God;” then “understood” he “their end” Psa 73:16-17.
In like way Daniel, at the close of his prophecy, sums up the account of a sifting-time, “Many shall be purified and made white and tried, and the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” Dan 12:10. As these say that the wise alone understand the actual dealings of God with man, so Hosea says, that the wise alone would understand what he had set forth of the mercy and severity of God, of His love for man, His desire to pardon, His unwillingness that any should perish, His longing for our repentance, His store of mercies in Christ, His gifts of grace and His free eternal love, and yet His rejection of all half-service and His final rejection of the impenitent. “Who is wise?” “The word “who” is always taken, not for what is impossible, but for what is difficult.” So Isaiah saith, “Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed?” Isa 53:1.
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Few are wise with “the wisdom which is from above;” few understand, because few wish to understand, or seek wisdom from Him who “giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not” Jam 1:5. The question implies also, that God longs that people should understand to their salvation. He inquires for them, calls to them that they would meditate on His mercies and judgments. As Paul says, “Behold the goodness and severity of God; on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out” Rom 11:22, Rom 11:33. Unsearchable to intellect and theory; intelligible to faith and for acting on.
And he shall understand these things - (that is, that he may understand). The worldly-wise of that generation, too, doubtless, thought themselves too wise to need to understand them; as the wise after this world counted the Cross of Christ foolishness.
Prudent - Properly “gifted with understanding,” the form of the word expressing, that he was “endowed with” this “understanding,” as a gift from God. And He shall know them. While the wise of this world disbelieve, jeer, scoff at them, in the name of human reason, he who has not the natural quickness of man only, but who is endued with the true wisdom, shall “know” them. So our Lord says, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it is of God” Joh 7:17. The word, “wise,” may especially mean him who contemplates these truths and understands them in themselves, yet plainly so as to act upon them; and the word “endued with prudence,” may especially describe such as are gifted with readiness to apply that knowledge to practice, in judgment, discrimination, act . By uniting both, the prophet joins contemplative and practical wisdom, and intensifies the expression of God’s desire that we should be endowed with them.
For the ways of the Lord are right - If in the word, “ways,” the figure is still preserved, the prophet speaks of the “ways,” as “direct and straight;” without a figure, as “just and upright.”
The ways of the Lord - Are, what we, by a like figure, call “the ‘course’ of His providence;” of which Scripture says, “His ways are judgment” Deu 32:4; Dan 4:37; “God, His ways are perfect” Psa 18:30; “the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works” Psa 145:17; “Thy way is in the sea, and Thy paths in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known” Psa 77:19; “lo, these are parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard of Him, and the thunder of His power who can understand?” Job 26:14; “who hath enjoined Him His way, and who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?” Job 36:23. These “ways of God” include His ordering for us, in His eternal wisdom, that course of life, which leads most directly to Himself. They include, then, all God’s commandments, precepts, counsels, His whole moral law, as well as His separate purpose for each of us. In the one way, they are God’s ways toward us; in the other they are God’s ways for us.
The just shall walk in them - God reveals His ways to us, not that we may know them only, but that we may do them. “The end of moral science is not knowledge, but practice,” said the Pagan philosopher . But the life of grace is a life of progress. The word, “way,” implies not continuance only, but advance. He does not say,” they shall “stand” in God’s ways,” but “they shall walk in them.” They shall go on in them “upright, safe, and secure, in “great peace” and with “nothing whereat to stumble” . In God’s ways there is no stumbling block, and they who walk in them, are free from those of which other ways are full. Whereas, out of God’s ways, all paths are tangled, uneven, slippery, devious, full of snares and pitfalls, God maketh His “way straight,” a royal highway, smooth, even, direct unto Himself.
But - (and) the transgressors shall fall therein - Literally, “shall stumble thereon” Psa 119:165. Transgressors, i. e., those who rebel against the law of God, “stumble” in divers manners, not “in,” but “at” the ways of God. They stumble at God Himself, at His All-Holy Being, Three and One; they stumble at His attributes; they stumble at His providence, they stumble at His acts; they stumble at His interference with them; they stumble at His requirements. They rebel against His commandments, as requiring what they like not; at His prohibitions, as refusing what they like. They stumble at His Wisdom, in ordering His own creation; at His Holiness, in punishing sin; but most of all, they stumble at His Goodness and condescension. They have a greater quarrel with His condescension than with all His other attributes. They have stumbled, and still stumble at God the Son, becoming Man, and taking our flesh in the Virgin’s womb; they stumble at the humility of the Crucifixion; they stumble at His placing His Manhood at the Right Hand of God; they stumble at the simplicity, power and condescension, which He uses in the sacraments; they stumble at His giving us His Flesh to eat; they stumble at His forgiving sins freely, and again and again; they stumble at His making us members of Himself, without waiting for our own wills; they stumble at His condescension in using our own acts, to the attainment of our degree of everlasting glory.
Every attribute, or gift, or revelation of God, which is full of comfort to the believer, becomes in turn an occasion of stumbling to the rebellious. “The things which should have been for his wealth, become to him an occasion of falling. “They cannot attemper their own wishes and ways to the divine law, because, obeying what they themselves affect, “the law of their members,” they stumble at that other law, which leadeth unto life” Psa 69:22. : With this the prophet sums up all the teaching of the seventy years of his ministry. This is the end of all which he had said of the severity and mercy of God, of the Coming of Christ, and of our resurrection in Him. This is to us the end of all; this is thy choice, Christian soul, to walk in God’s ways, or to stumble at them. As in the days when Christ came in the Flesh, so it is now; so it will be to the end. So holy Simeon prophesied, “‘This Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel’ Luk 2:34; and our Lord said of Himself, ‘For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind’ Joh 9:39. And Peter; ‘Unto you which believe He is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling and rock of offence, to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient’ 1Pe 2:7-8. ‘Christ crucified was unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God’ 1Co 1:23-24. The commandment, which’ was ordained ‘to life,’ Paul, when yet unregenerate, ‘found’ to be ‘unto death’ Rom 7:10. : “Pray we then the Eternal Wisdom, that we may be truly wise and understanding, and receive not in vain those many good things which Christ has brought to the race of man. Let us cleave to Him by that ‘faith, which worketh by love;’ let us seek the Good, seek the Just, ‘seek the Lord while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near.’ Whatever God doeth toward ourselves or others, let us account right; ‘for the ways of the Lord are right,’ and ‘that’ cannot be unjust, which pleaseth the Just. Whatever He teacheth, whatever He commandeth, let us believe without discussion, and embrace most firmly for “that” cannot be false, which the Truth hath taught. Let us walk in His ways;” for Christ Himself is “the Way” unto Himself, “the Life.” : “Look up to heaven; look down to Hell; live for Eternity.” “Weigh a thousand, yea thousands of years against eternity what dost thou, weighing a finite, how vast soever, against Infinity.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Idol? or God will no more reproach them, as…
Idol? or God will no more reproach them, as their conversion is sincere. --- Make. Hebrew, "be to him like," &c. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain EPILOGUE, summing up the whole previous teaching. Here alone…
EPILOGUE, summing up the whole previous teaching. Here alone Hosea uses the term "righteous," so rare were such characters in his day. There is enough of saving truth clear in God's Word to guide those humbly seeking salvation, and enough of difficulties to confound those who curiously seek them out, rather than practically seek salvation.
fall--stumble and are offended at difficulties opposed to their prejudices and lusts, or above their self-wise understanding (compare Pro 10:29; Mic 2:7; Mat 11:19; Luk 2:34; Joh 7:17; Pe1 2:7-8). To him who sincerely seeks the agenda, God will make plain the credenda. Christ is the foundation-stone to some: a stone of stumbling and rock of offense to others. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay. But their fall is the most fatal who fall in the ways of God, split on the Rock of ages, and suck poison out of the Balm of Gilead.
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Next: Joel Introduction
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. An epilogue or conclusion to the prophecy, unspecializing…
9. An epilogue or conclusion to the prophecy, unspecializing it, as it were, and extracting the general moral lesson which underlies it all. The tone and language of it remind us of the Book of Proverbs (Pro_11:5; Pro_15:19). The term ‘the righteous’ occurs nowhere else in Hosea.
Who is wise, &c.] Rather, Whoso is wise, let him understand these things (i.e. the foregoing prophecies). One great mark of ‘wisdom’ in the Old Testament sense was a rational acquiescence in the equity of the providential government.
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for the ways of the Lord, &c.] The ‘ways of Jehovah’ are those marked out by Him as Governor of the world for the righteous and for the wicked respectively. These ‘ways’ are ‘straight’ or ‘right’ (synonymous with ‘righteous’, as Deu_32:4; Psa_119:37), alike when they spread themselves out in an unbroken level for the pious, and when they oppose themselves in rocky stumbling-blocks to the ungodly. Comp. Pro_11:5; Pro_15:19; Isa_26:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) Who is wise.—Hosea hands his words over to…
(9) Who is wise.—Hosea hands his words over to all students of the ways of God. The exhortation to wisdom is expressed in the form of a question. “Wisdom” and “wise men” take in the later Hebrew literature the place of “prophecy” and “prophets.” Wisdom interprets both the word and its fulfilment. Christ’s own teaching goes beyond wisdom and prudence (Mat_11:28; comp. 1Co_1:20): it was spirit and life (Joh_6:63).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?…
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall far therein.
This verse demands attention to all the prophet has written, whether for warning, or reproof, or correction in righteousness, or encouragement to piety and virtue, and evidently alludes to Deu_32:4. The ways of the Lord are those he prescribes for them to walk in, as also the ways he takes in guiding, guarding, and governing men. Like the dictates of the Word, so the dispensations of his providence are to some the savor of life, to others the savor of death; therefore it is added that, while the righteous walk therein, the wicked stumble in them. (comp. Deu_30:19, Deu_30:20)
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The epilogue.
With this weighty sentence the prophet seals up the written record of his life-message. As the foregoing chapters express the essence of Hosea"s public teaching during his prolonged ministry, this closing verse, in like manner, sets before us the quintessence of that written record. The conclusion "unspecializes the prophecy, as it were, and extracts the general moral lesson which underlies it all" (Cheyne). Two main points are suggested here for our consideration.
I A SUMMARY OF THE PROPHET"S TEACHING. This is given in the second half of the verse. The Book of Hosea is full of precious instruction:
1. About God. That "the ways of Jehovah are right" is the sum of its theology. God"s ways" are to be understood to mean his dealings with men as the supreme moral Governor. And the prophet"s aim in these pages is akin to that which Milton announces in the beginning of his great epic, viz. to "assert eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to men.
(1) His ways in judgment are right. "These things" cannot but include all the lamentations and chidings and announcements of punishment with which the book is so largely occupied. Ephraim had sinned against the voice of God"s Law, against the assurances of his love, and even against the pleadings of his mercy; so the Lord could not be "unrighteous in taking vengeance," however dreadful and prolonged that vengeance might be. Hosea"s message, on its side of sternness, announced that "righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." God"s ways are right in his dealings with every ungodly nation, despite all the difficulty and mystery which may gather round them. And his ways are right in his dealings with each individual transgressor, albeit that the reasons of his procedure may be "past finding out." The rectitude of the Divine ways is attested by experience; for, although they prove stumbling-blocks to the ungodly, "the just walk in them," and by-and-by arrive at "a city of habitation." To his own people Jehovah is "just," and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
(2) His ways in mercy are right. If there be any book of Old Testament Scripture which exhibits the Divine grace and compassion, that book is Hosea. The strain of it is not ethical alone; it is evangelical also. The prophet represents the love of God as the fundamental ground of God"s relations to his ancient people. Hosea conceives of Jehovah as Israel"s Husband (Ho 2) and Father. (Ho 11) But, as the prophet was persuaded that it was not wrong for himself to continue to love Gomer, his adulterous wife, and to yearn for the well-being of her children, when they followed in her evil ways, so Goal"s dealings in mercy towards apostate Israel, and towards sinners of the Gentiles, are right also. "Oar book is, therefore, truly a classic for the right understanding of the Old Testament conception of God with its interaction of love and wrath, and of the nature of the Old Testament revelation concerning God. Only such a God who can be so angry and so loving, who in all his love so displays anger, and in all his anger so displays love, could give up his only begotten Son to the accursed death for the deliverance of rebellious man" (Lange). But the Book of Hosea is also full of teaching:
2. About men. It separates them into two classes, just" or righteous, and "the transgressors;" those who "walk in" the Lord"s ways, and those who "stumble thereon." In other words, this book deals with the great theme of spiritual apostasy and revival.
(1) Spiritual apostasy. There are always many "transgressors," who, like Ephraim, stumble and fall in the right ways of the Lord. And this book is written to warn men against becoming such. Hosea points out the earliest symptoms of backsliding; e.g. the "morning-cloud goodness"; (Hos_6:4) the "grey hairs"; (Hos_7:9) the "removing of the bound"; (Hos_5:10) the "forgetting of one"s Maker"; (Hos_8:14) the "hiring of lovers", (Hos_8:9) etc. He indicates its further manifestations; e.g. "counting God"s Law a strange thing"; (Hos_8:12) "mixing among the people; "being like "a cake not turned"; (Hos_7:8) becoming "an empty vine"; (Hos_10:1) "sowing the; (Hos_8:7) "sinning more and more", (Hos_13:2) etc. And he warns against ultimate results; e.g. idols "broken in pieces"; (Hos_8:6) "the land mourning"; (Hos_4:3) "reaping the whirlwind"; (Hos_8:7) "joined to idols"; (Hos_4:17) "cast away by God", (Hos_9:17) etc.
(2) Spiritual revival. The prophet deals with this more pleasant side of his message in Hos_2:14-23, Hos_6:1-3, and especially in Ho 14. (For an outline of his teaching regarding the rise, progress, and fruits of revival, see the three preceding homilies.)
II THE MORAL QUALIFICATION NECESSARY IF WE WOULD PROFIT BY THIS TEACHING. The student of Hosea, who desires to get at the mind of the Spirit contained in these oracles, must be "wise" and "prudent." The "just" or pious man "walks in the Lord"s ways;" and these ways require to be walked in to be understood. The "wisdom" which the prophet desiderates is not to be confounded with intellectual acuteness; it is a moral qualification. Here, as in the Book of Proverbs, and indeed throughout all Scripture, the "wise" are they whose souls have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and who have been brought into a right moral state in relation to Divine truth. The profound theology of Hosea, accordingly, will not be grasped by the man of merely intellectual discernment, or by any one who has only accumulated stores of human learning. Moral preparation is necessary in order to the reception and assimilation of spiritual truth. As the psalmist has it, "Light is sown for the righteous". (Psa_97:11) Or, as the Lord Jesus expressed the same thought," If any man is willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God". (Joh_7:17) This experimental qualification is within every one"s reach. The possession of it makes the simple-minded shepherd really wiser than the "undevout astronomer." Cowper"s "cottager, who weaves at her own door," has it to the full; while "the brilliant Frenchman never knew" it. Only the right-hearted man will be habitually persuaded of the equity of the Divine government, both as regards judgment and mercy. Such a one has learned to "taste and see that the Lord is good." Correctness of conduct promotes correctness of creed, and helps to the proper understanding of God"s ways. A man thinks rightly just to the extent of his living purely. (Psa_111:10) In our day, accordingly, one must be a believer in Christ and a follower of him if he would profit by the study of Hosea.
LESSONS.
1. What a commentary upon this verse is the whole history, of the Hebrew nation, from the beginning until now!
2. Hosea"s last word, like Holy Scripture everywhere, draws a sharp contrast between the righteous and the wicked.
3. Every man must make choice either of "walking in God"s ways," or of "stumbling thereon.
4. The believer should derive comfort from this text in presence of the mysteries of Providence.
5. This final exhortation should come home to us with still greater power than it was fitted to do to Hosea"s contemporaries; for, since he lived, the four great world-empires have successively fallen, the Jews remain scattered among the cities of the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ has been lifted up on the cross as an atonement for sin, and his gospel has been preached among the nations. C.J.
Wisdom and righteousness.
The book of Hosea"s prophecies closes with a solemn statement of human freedom and human responsibility. God"s mind and will are revealed, but the prophet gives all concerned to understand that the revelation alone is insufficient. Let men observe that it depends upon the spirit in which they receive it, and the action which they take upon it, that all its benefit and advantage depend.
I DIVINE REVELATION CALLS FOR THE EXERCISE OF HUMAN WISDOM. The praise of folly, which some religionists account a proper part of piety, has no countenance in Scripture. The wise man is the good man; and his wisdom is apparent in his acceptance of Divine counsels and his submission to Divine appointments. The faculty of understanding has been implanted by the Creator, and the due exercise of that faculty is honorable to God. Human wisdom may be misdirected; but human ignorance and imprudence are far more likely to lead men astray. What is needed is a more active exercise of all the powers of the mind; sloth is of all things the most disastrous. On the whole, to know what wise and great men have thought is an advantage to the religious inquirer; a comparison of inspired with uninspired wisdom is likely to lead men into the paths of true and Divine wisdom.
II DIVINE REVELATION CALLS FOR THE EXERCISE OF RIGHTEOUS OBEDIENCE. Man is not a purely speculative being; he is eminently practical, and knowledge of the truth answers the intended purpose when it leads to the love and practice of rectitude. That abandoned sinners have been converted is true and is ground for rejoicing; that correctness of outward conduct has sometimes stood in the way of a spiritual life is also sadly undeniable. Yet the just are likely to long for a higher righteousness. To admire and to aspire to goodness is to be in the way for the perfect satisfaction which attends those who walk "in the ways of the Lord." These ways are right. And it is hypocrisy to profess to know the revelation of God unless we accept its practical precepts, and make the Scriptures the lamp of our feet and the light of our path. They are truly wise who understand and know God"s declarations, and they are truly just who walk in his ways. T.
God"s ways.
"Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein." God has his ways, his methods of action. He proceeds on certain principles in all his operations, both in the realm of matter and of mind. The Infinite has a way of doing things.
I HIS WAYS ARE TO BE STUDIED. "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?" It is one thing to know the works of a man, and another thing to know his ways, his methods of action. He only knows a man who understands his way of doing things. God"s ways are the highest subjects of study. It is said that he made known his "way" unto Moses, his "works" unto the children of Israel. The millions know something of his works; only the "wise," the "prudent," the initiated, like Moses, understand his ways. Brother, come away from the study of details, ascend into the realm of principles. Men who understand God"s ways become prophets. They can foretell the future.
II HIS WAYS ARE RIGHTEOUS. "The ways of the Lord are right.
1. They are right; they cannot be otherwise. They are right because they are his. He cannot do wrong; there is no law external to him, no law above him. What he does is right because he does it. To say he does a thing because it is right is tantamount to the assertion that there is something independent of him.
2. They are right; human conscience attests it. No conscience in heaven, earth, hell, doubts the rectitude of God"s ways. If sinners in hell felt they were wrong, they would feel no remorse for their conduct. They are right essentially, immutably, everlastingly right.
III HIS WAYS ARE TO BE PURSUED. "The just shall walk in them." They are not merely to be studied, but to be practically followed. You cannot do what God does, but what you do you can do in God"s way do silently, lovingly, beneficently. Walk in this way, the way of love and usefulness.
IV HIS WAYS MAY RUIN. "The transgressors shall fall therein." As God moves in calm majesty and resistless force on his way, he crushes in his march all who oppose him. His chariot-wheels grind them into powder. Recipitur ad modum recipientis. What is received influences according to the qualities of the receiver. "The same sun," says an old author, "softens wax and hardens clay. But of all transgressors those certainly have the most dangerous fatal falls that fall in the ways of God, that split on the Rock of Ages, and suck poison out of the balm of Gilead. Let the sinners in Zion be afraid of this. D.T.
The lesson of the book.
The lesson may be summed up in few words, but it is so comprehensive that the acceptance or rejection of it makes all the difference between supreme wisdom and supreme folly. The lesson simply is that the ways of the Lord are right." Men prefer their own ways to God"s, but what the history of Israel teaches is that, if they do so, it is to their own ruin.
I GOD"S WAYS ARE RIGHT. They are:
1. Bight in themselves. They are the ways of absolute rectitude. They are marked out for us by perfect wisdom, spotless holiness, and unchanging goodness. Equally right are Gods own ways, the principles of his government, the modes of his action. His commands are just, his requirements reasonable, his doings wise, his intentions kind.
2. Bight as conducting to a right end. God desires the good of every one. He has no pleasure in the death of any. He sets before us the way of life. "See," he says, "I have set before you life and death". (Deu_30:15, Deu_30:19) God knows better than any other wherein our true good lies. Taking the way he prescribes, we shall infallibly attain to blessedness.
II WISDOM IS TESTED BY THE ACCEPTANCE OR REFUSAL OF GOD"S WAYS. "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?
1. The wise recognize the rightness of God"s ways. They are taught of God to recognize this rightness. Plain as the truth seems that God"s ways alone are right, the natural heart is incapable of receiving it. (1Co_2:14)
2. The wise show their wisdom by walking in God"s ways. "The just shall walk in them." Wisdom is a practical thing. It implies the adoption of that which we know to be right. Wisdom is connected with uprightness. It is the upright in heart the just who choose the right ways.
3. The unwise show their folly by rejecting God"s ways. This is their ruin. "The transgressors shall fall therein. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
Hos_14:9
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
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Who is wise
There must be prudence and wisdom before we can understand Divine truths; there must be an illumination within. A man may know whether he be prudent and wise by his relishing of Divine truths, for otherwise he is not wise and prudent in these things which are the main. The prophet now comes to shew and defend the equity of Gods ways, how crooked soever they seem to flesh and blood. By ways he understandeth the whole law and Gospel, the whole Word of God; which he calleth right, not only because they are righteous in themselves, but because they reform whatsoever is amiss in us, and rectify us; and work whatsoever is needful for our good and salvation. Gods ways are those wherein He walks to us: the ways that He prescribes us to walk in; and our ways as they are comformable to His. The ways of the Lord are right; as they agree to that which is right or straight; and right likewise, because they lead directly to a right end. Observe that man is not a prescriber of his own way, and that no creatures will is a rule. The Word of the Lord is every way perfect, and brings us to perfection. The best way to come to a good and right end is to, take Gods ways. Shew the divers effects these right ways of God have in two sorts of people, the godly and the wicked.
1. The just shall walk in them. They are just who give to every one their due, and give God His due. They are such as have respect unto all God s commandments. They do things to a good end, even the glory of God and the good of man. They desire to grow in grace and they love the brethren. In the worst times, God will have always a people that shall justify wisdom. Men must have spiritual life, and be just, before they can walk. For our encouragement to walk in Gods ways, know that they are the most safe ways of all; they are the most pleasant, and they are the cleanest and holiest. The transgressors shall fall therein. The same word which is a word of life and salvation to the godly is an occasion of sin and perdition unto the wicked. (R. Sibbes.)
Who are the truly wise and prudent?
I. The character of the persons who would give heed to the words of this prophecy, and to these doctrines.
1. What does the Spirit mean by wise? Wisdom is described in the Book of Proverbs. In it wisdom calls, reproves, and has a spirit to pour out, actions and attributes which belong only to the very and eternal God. In it wisdom is said to be the source of royal and judicial authority. It is described as eternal. It is said to have a temple and sacrifices.. It promises to do that which the Almighty alone can do. It threatens to execute judgment upon those who refuse to accept the proffered mercy. Then who else can wisdom be but the Lord of Hosts? Wise must mean those who make the knowledge of God their chief study and pursuit. They are wise whose heart, mind, and soul are pervaded by wisdom.
2. What does the Spirit mean by prudent? The original means, an understanding one, or a sound reasoner. So the real meaning of the expression differs considerably from the apparent one. The Spirit means an individual who, by diligent searching and study of Gods dispensations and providential visitations, arrives at accurate conclusions with reference to the Almightys promises and threats; to the consequences of obedience and disobedience; to the effects of impenitence and repentance. A prudent man, in Scripture, but especially in this place, means a knowing individual in the deep mysteries of Gods holy Word.
II. The nature of the doctrines taught. The ways of the Lord are right. This is an expression for true religion which binds and knits man to God. True religion is irresistible. What can be more reasonable than that He who made all things for Himself should demand us to Himself? The ways of the Lord are right, with regard to their conformity to the holy nature and will of God, with regard to the peace which they confer.
III. The double use made of the ways of the Lord by different parties. The just shall walk in them: the transgressors shall fall therein. We never make the Word of the Lord our rule of life whereby to walk, until we are made righteous; until the sun of righteousness hath shone in our hearts, and illumined our souls. But how fearful is the doom of those who have despised the wisdom and prudence which the prophet recommended for their knowledge and understanding. The same Being who helps forward the just on their way, and removes every impediment from their path, becomes the insurmountable obstruction in the way of transgressors. Many are the things in the Word of God at which corrupt hearts are apt to stumble. The profoundness and incomprehensibleness of some of its mysterious doctrines, instead of humbling the finite mind and bringing it into subjection to the infinite, puffs up with pride and arrogance the depraved and scanty reason, and makes it exalt itself against Him who is exalted above all. The sanctity and strictness of Gods ways make many an unholy temper and disposition revolt against making those ways their choice. (Moses Margoliouth, B. A.)
The right ways of the Lord
Here the prophet makes an application of his subject.
I. The import of this question of appeal.
1. Vain men would fain be wise. The question implies that the number of the wise and intelligent on these subjects was but small. And those who did not understand such things as the prophet had delivered did not deserve the name of wise and intelligent, however they might assume it to themselves.
I. The important declaration. The ways of the Lord are right. Need not prove this. It is a first principle in religion. It is now before us as matter of reflection.
III. The different views of the ways of God which are entertained, and the different effects produced thereby. The righteous, being taught of God, have a proper and spiritual discernment of things. Transgressors, blinded by the god of the world, discern no spiritual objects in their proper colours. (S. Knight, M. A.)
Gods ways made known unto the wise
The truth is, that men live the chief part of their lives without any knowledge of their own separation from the Lord; they do not understand that sin separates the sinner from his Maker.
I. Who are the wise?
1. They are willing hearers of Gods truth. Like Cornelius of old.
2. Humble receivers of truth. Like the jailer at Philippi.
3. They are careful thinkers. Like Mary, who pondered things in her heart. No others but these can really be spoken of as wise.
II. Gods right ways. He has a right to demand obedience on our part to whatever He may please to lay down. If we walk in His ways we shall have grace to support us, and supply our various wants, we shall have guidance in the hour of difficulty, we shall have our hearts prepared for the enjoyment of those pleasures which are at Gods right hand for evermore. He will give us strength for the day, and grace unto the end. The ways of the just shall be increasingly clear. The wicked shall fall therein. The ways are the same, but men receive them and walk in them differently. That which is really good for those who are anxious to serve God, we are told here, is turned into evil in the case of the wicked. (H. Montagu Villiers, M. A.)
Walking or failing in Gods ways
In the worst times God will have always a people that shall justify wisdom. Some are foolish; not caring for the ways of God, cavilling at them. But the just shall walk in them, that is, they take a contrary course to the world that slights wisdom. In ill times, let us labour to justify truth, both the truth of things to be believed and all just religious courses.
1. Men must have spiritual life, and be just, before they can walk. Walking is an action of life; there must be life before there can be walking. Unless there is first spiritual life in the inward man there will not be a harmony and correspondency betwixt a man and his ways.
2. Because a just man is also a prudent and wise man, he walks in Gods ways. Spiritual wisdom and prudence lead to walking in obedience.
What things doth this walking in the ways of God imply?
1. Perspicuity. Those who walk in the ways of God discern those ways to be Gods ways, and discern them aright.
2. Resolution to go on in those ways till he come to the end, though there be never so much opposition.
How shall we know whether we go on in this way or not?
1. When earthly profits and pleasures seem little, and heaven and heavenly things seem near.
2. It implies a uniform course of life.
3. He who would walk in Gods ways must be resolute against all opposition whatsoever.
The use of this teaching may be--
1. Reprehension unto those who can talk, but not walk; that have tongues, but not feet.
2. It is for instruction, to stir us up to walk in Gods ways.
3. It is for consolation. If this be our walk, then God will walk with us, and the angels of God shall have charge of us, to keep us in all our ways. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
The cause and cure of social evils
It cannot be said that our position as a nation is like that of Israel in those days when she was tottering to her fall. But the same, or very similar, evils to those which proved the ruin of Israel exist among us to a deplorable degree. Those who are familiar with the prophecy will know what I mean when I say that evil is with us at the moth stage, not yet at the lion stage (see chap. 5.). The moth stage is when evil keeps eating like a canker into the vitals of a people, but where there is nothing, or very little, to attract attention; no noise, nothing to alarm. But let the moth stage go on, let corruption increase among the people, and presently the roar of a lion will be heard; there will be tumult and commotion, there will be the outbreak of open rebellion against the powers that be, in heaven and on earth too. Hosea has it for his great object throughout to show the cause and the cure of all these evils. The cause is unfaithfulness to God, and the cure is returning to Him with the whole heart. There is never more vigour in Hoseas tone than when, reminding of the sin of Jehovah, he says, Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off! Has modern society no calf? Does it not make a god of gold? Is not that covetousness which is idolatry a national vice? Israel had a calf at Dan as well as at Bethel. This may be taken to represent the idol of natural law. People trust in the laws of evolution, working through the struggle for existence to the survival of the fittest. The great effort, of these people is to bring man and all that concerns him under the stern operation of that law. What shall we do? A question much more easily asked than answered. There are many reforms, and these by far the most needful and far-reaching in their result, which can only be accomplished by the diffusion of a spirit of love; and this is only possible by a general return of the people to the Lord their God. The humanitarian spirit which is shown by not a few of those who make no profession of faith in God is much to be commended; but it never can by its inherent force make way in society. To flow as a fertilising stream through the waste places of society, it must take its rise in the high mountains of Divine faith and hope and love. The nether springs of human generosity must be fed by the upper springs of Divine grace. (J. Monro Gibson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Hos_14:9.] A most important concluding lesson. Wise] Those who…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hos_14:9.] A most important concluding lesson. Wise] Those who are not, cavil at God’s word, and his providence to them is a complete riddle. The prudent—“properly gifted with understanding, the form of the word expressing that he was endowed with this understanding, as a gift of God”—shall know and discern. Right] Straight and direct, leading to the object. Ways which lead some to life and others to death, according to the attitudes which men assume towards God. The just, the righteous, walk in them and live; sinners deviate from them, stumble and perish. Moses announced to Israel that this would be the result to them (Deu_30:19-20); Paul tells us that such will be the effect of the gospel at all times (1Co_1:18).
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HOMILETICS
THE WAYS OF GOD AND THE DESTINIES OF MEN.—Hos_14:9
In this epilogue the prophet sums up his teaching, and seeks to “justify the ways of God to man.” The dealings of God with men are often mysterious and difficult to understand; but are right in themselves, designed to lead to life, and will influence men according to their treatment of them.
I. The ways of God in their aspects towards men. These ways indicate the ways of Providence and the paths of duty; God’s treatment of men and his requirements from them.
1. They are right in themselves. “The ways of the Lord are right.” No fault can be found with them. (a) They are conformed to the will of God, which is holy and just; the standard of righteousness to the universe. (b) They are the most direct and straight line to a right end. They never deviate from truth and duty. They are more holy and more trustworthy than any code of morals. Invincible in power and unimpeachable in justice. “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” (c) They are proved to be right by our moral nature. The written word accords with the human conscience; the law without is confirmed by the testimony within. We have a sense of obligation, approve the right, though we follow the wrong. We are filled with remorse and delight. The work of the law is written in our hearts, our conscience bears witness, and our thoughts accuse or excuse us continually (Rom_2:15).
2. They are difficult to be understood. “Who is wise?” Mystery and majesty, justice and mercy, are displayed in God’s providence. We are finite creatures, and should not presume to penetrate “the clouds and darkness round about him.” There are “things hard to be understood” in the works as well as in the word of God. We may go forward and backward, on the right hand and on the left, and yet not perceive God (Job_23:8-10). “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing” (Pro_25:2). “Little can we at the beginning of any action guess at God’s intention in the conclusion,” says Bp Hall. “His judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out.” Some are obvious and plain; written with beams of light and love; and he that runs may read. Others are obscure and beyond our comprehension. “Lo! these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him!”
3. Yet enough may be known for the duties of life. The question indicates that some know, that all who wish may know, and do right. “The prudent shall know them.” God’s ways are unsearchable to the intellectual and the theorist, but intelligible to the humble and the obedient. We know a part, and that is enough to practise. Aristotle teaches that the end of moral science is not knowledge, but practice. “Those have the best knowledge who know their duty,” says Matt. Henry. “Let no man,” says South, “presume that he can see beforehand into the ways of Providence. His part is to contemplate them in the past, and trust in them for the future: but so trusting, to act always upon motives of human prudence, directed by religious principles.”
II. The ways of God in their requirements from men. “Who is wise and prudent?”
1. They require to be known. Many have a slight acquaintance with them, but few study them. The wise alone meditate upon them and understand them. The proud and self-conceited often scoff and ridicule. A right and teachable disposition is required. “He that comes to seek after knowledge with a mind to scorn and censure, shall be sure to find enough for his humour, but none for his instruction” [Bacon]. True wisdom is to understand what we have to do, and “knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth” this. A true heart and a ready mind, a single eye and a right motive, will make the path of duty easy. “If any man will” (is willing, wishes to) “do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.”
2. They require to be observed. “The just shall walk in them.” We are not to speculate, but to obey; not to stand, but walk in the way; not merely continue, but advance in it. Delay and sloth create difficulty, raise “a hedge of thorns,” and harass to the end of the journey. Exertion and hope will make the way plain and prosperous (Pro_15:19). Wait not for louder calls and greater opportunities. “Duties are ours, events are God’s.” “To wait for God’s performance and do nothing is to abuse that Divine providence which will always so work as not to allow us to remain in inactivity” [Bp Hall]. “Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.”
Act an honest part.
Look before thee as thou goest,
Do the duty which thou knowest.
III. The ways of God in their influence upon men. “Transgressors shall fall therein.” Truth will influence according to the method in which it is received. The best blessings may be perverted by malicious dispositions. “The things which should have been for his wealth become to him an occasion of falling” (Psa_69:22). “Christ himself is set for the rising and falling of many” (Luk_2:34). Hence the ways of God influence men in two methods.
1. The righteous walk in them and live. The wise discern their rectitude and desire to secure their end. The righteous walk in them, become like them, and live in them. There is much to discourage and oppose; but the sincere persevere in holiness, add strength to strength, and enjoy foretastes of heaven. “The righteous also shall hold” (take firm hold) “on his way, and he that is of clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”
2. The ungodly deviate from them and perish. If God’s ways lead to life, departing from them must be death. The disobedient stumble at the word and the ways of God. They are offended at the requirements and the providence of God. They transgress, fall, and perish. This is the sum of Hosea’s ministry; the fulfilment of ancient prediction (Deu_30:19-20); and the general effect of gospel preaching (1Co_1:18). God’s ways are just and true. Those who walk in them shall live, and those who depart from them shall perish. “Whoso readeth, let him understand.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 14
Hos_14:9. Providences are sometimes dark texts; which require an expositor (Gen_42:36). They that would judge aright of any one of the Lord’s dispensations must be careful students of them all. They must not slight any work of his, because all, though they may be many and difficult to us, make but one entire work in God’s hand. And every part of that work is a commentary, clearing the nature and use of the whole and God’s intent therein [Nisbet].
Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men;
Unless there be who think not God at all.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Hosea the prophet is speaking.
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Who is wise that he may understand these things? Who understands these things so that he may know them?
The prophet uses these questions to say that wise people will understand and listen to what has been said to them. (See: Rhetorical Question and Parallelism)
For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous will walk in them
Yahweh's commandments are spoken of as ways to walk in. (See: Metaphor)
stumble
Disobeying Yahweh is spoken of as if it were stumbling while walking. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
wise
understand
know
Yahweh
righteous
walk
rebel
stumble
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:9 This final verse commends Hosea’s words to wise…
14:9 This final verse commends Hosea’s words to wise and discerning believers of all generations.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.