Hosea 10:12

Hosea 10:12

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

a. NLT:  I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love.
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD,that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’

b. NIV: Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

c. YLT: Sow for yourselves in righteousness, Reap according to loving-kindness, Till for yourselves tillage of knowledge, To seek Jehovah, Till he come and shew righteousness to you.

d. Amplified Bible Classic: Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire forand of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you.

e. Septuagint: Sow to yourselves for righteousness, gather in for the fruit of life: light ye for yourselves the light of knowledge; seek the Lord till the fruits of righteousness come upon you.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: [I said] Sow for yourselves righteousness and you will reap according to kindness; till for yourselves a tilling and [set] a time to seek HASHEM until He comes and teaches you righteousness.

1. “Sow to yourselves in righteousness…”

a. sow [2232 * zara’][Strong: a primitive root; to sow; figuratively, to disseminate, plant, fructify:--bear, conceive seed, set with sow(-er), yield.][AMG Complete Old Testament Word Study Dictionary: A verb meaning to sow, to bear seed. It indicates the act of sowing the ground or field or of planting seed.]

b. righteousness [6666 * tsdaqah][Strong:  rightness (abstractly), subjectively (rectitude), objectively (justice), morally (virtue) or figuratively (prosperity):--justice, moderately, right(-eous) (act, -ly, -ness).][AMG Complete Old Testament Word Study Dictionary: A feminine noun meaning righteousness, blameless conduct, and integrity. The noun describes justice, right actions, and right attitudes, as expected from both God and people when they judge…]

1). We spend our whole lives sowing and reaping in everything we do. When we allow good or evil thoughts to develop in our minds we are sowing and we will reap a harvest from them. When we allow good or bad actions to develop in our lives we are sowing. All thoughts, words, and deeds are in the beginning sown into our lives as seeds, as they are watered and cultivated they will flourish in our lives. They are harvested as good or bad character and good or bad reputations, good or bad names. Here the Prophet Hosea instructs us that when we sow rightly we will reap rightly. When we sow the seed of the word in moral correctness, in justice, in blameless conduct and integrity we will reap good. Two very applicable passages that fit in here are from Galatians and 2 Corinthians.

a). Galatians 6:7-9 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

2). We will reap what we sow.

a). Hosea 8:7 For they [Israel] have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

b). 2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

a). This is why there are so many levels of good and bad behavior. We will reap what we have sown, but also we will reap the level of what we have sown. If we sow evil sparingly we will reap evil sparingly. If we sow good bountifully we will reap good bountifully.

2. “…reap in mercy…”

a. reap [7114 * qatsar] [Strong: a primitive root; to dock off, i.e. curtail (transitive or intransitive, literal or figurative); especially to harvest (grass or grain):--X at all, cut down, much discouraged, grieve, harvestman, lothe, mourn, reap(-er), (be, wax) short(-en, -er), straiten, trouble, vex.] [AMG Complete Old Testament Word Study Dictionary: A verb meaning to reap, to harvest. It describes harvesting, gathering a crop.]

b. mercy [2617 * checed][Strong: from 2616; kindness; by implication (towards God) piety: rarely (by opposition) reproof, or (subject.) beauty:--favour, good deed(-liness, -ness), kindly, (loving-)kindness, merciful (kindness), mercy, pity, reproach, wicked thing.][AMG Complete Old Testament Word Study Dictionary: A masculine noun indicating kindness, loving kindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, love, acts of kindness.]

1). If we sow mercy, we will reap mercy. Compare to fruit of the Spirit.

3. “…break up your fallow ground…”

a. break [5214 * niyr ] [Strong: a root probably identical with that of 5216, through the idea of the gleam of a fresh furrow; to till the soil:--break up.] [ AMG Complete Old Testament Word Study Dictionary: A verb meaning to break up something. It is used in an agricultural sense of plowing untilled ground, but in context it is used of Israel’s repentance and returning to God.]

b. fallow [5215 * niyr][Strong: properly, plowing, i.e. (concretely) freshly plowed land:--fallow ground, plowing, tillage.][AMG Complete Old Testament Word Study Dictionary: A masculine noun signifying fallow, untilled ground, it indicates farming land, property owned that lies unplowed…”]

1). This sentence fragment was repeated by the Prophet Jeremiah about a century later in his ministry.

a). Jeremiah 4:3 For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

2). All of the translations agree that “fallow” ground is unplowed or untilled ground and since this is speaking of their hearts, the prophet is exhorting his hearers including us to make ready our hearts to receive the will and word of God.

3). John Gill:  break up your fallow ground; that is, of their hearts; which were like ground unopened, unbroken, not filled and manured, nor sown with seed, but overrun with weeds and thistles; and so were they, hard and impenitent, destitute of grace, and full of sin and wickedness, and stood in need of being renewed in the spirit of their minds; which this exhortation is designed to convince them of, and to stir them up to make use of proper methods of obtaining it, through the efficacious grace of God.

4). Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh: The call to repentance and reformation of life.

5). John Wesley’ Notes: Your hearts are as ground over - run with weeds, which need to be plowed and broken up, that good seed may be sowed in them.

4. “…for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”

a. time [6256 * ‘eth] [Strong: time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etc.:--+ after, (al-)ways, X certain, + continually, + evening, long, (due) season, so (long) as, (even-, evening-, noon-)tide, ((meal-)), what) time, when.] [AMG Complete Old Testament Word Study Dictionary: A masculine or feminine noun meaning time. The word basically means time. But in context, it expresses many aspects of time ad kinds of time.]

b. seek [1875 * darash][Strong: a primitive root; properly, to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by implication, to seek or ask; specifically to worship:--ask, X at all, care for, X diligently, inquire, make inquisition, (necro-)mancer, question, require, search, seek (for, out), X surely.][AMG Complete Old Testament Word Study Dictionary: a verb meaning to seek, to inquire of, to examine, to require.]

c. the LORD [3068 * Yhovah] [Strong: from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

1). Hosea exhorts his readers to seek the Lord because it is time. Because of Jesus and what he accomplished through his death and resurrection it is always time.

a). 2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

b). Isaiah 56:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

2). We have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

b). Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

3). Therefore it is always time and if we are sincere he will always be found.

a). Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

d. till he come [935 * bow’] [Strong: a primitive root; to go or come (in a wide variety of applications):--abide, apply, attain, X be, befall, + besiege, bring (forth, in, into, to pass), call, carry, X certainly, (cause, let, thing for) to come (against, in, out, upon, to pass), depart, X doubtless again, + eat, + employ, (cause to) enter (in, into, -tering, -trance, -try), be fallen, fetch, + follow, get, give, go (down, in, to war), grant, + have, X indeed, (in-)vade, lead, lift (up), mention, pull in, put, resort, run (down), send, set, X (well) stricken (in age), X surely, take (in), way.]

e. and rain [3384 * yarah; or yara] [Strong: a primitive root; properly, to flow as water (i.e. to rain); transitively, to lay or throw (especially an arrow, i.e. to shoot); figuratively, to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach:--(+) archer, cast, direct, inform, instruct, lay, shew, shoot, teach(-er,-ing), through.]

f. righteousness [6664 * tsedeq] [Strong: from 6663; the right (natural, moral or legal); also (abstractly) equity or (figuratively) prosperity:--X even, (X that which is altogether) just(-ice), ((un-))right(-eous) (cause, -ly, - ness).]

g. upon you [No Hebrew]