What Does Hosea 8:10 Mean in the King James?
Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
A bargain with power can end with you gathered beneath its weight.
THE MEANING
When security is sought through giving among the nations, the exchange does not guarantee freedom; those gathered still face a ruler’s weight. The gathering here is not uncomplicated relief: it brings you face to face with the cost of placing security in foreign power. Even a little of that weight brings sorrow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that paying powerful neighbors for security keeps their power from becoming your burden.
THE ROOT
מַשָּׂא
massa
GROWS FROM
נָשָׂא
Lift, carry, bear; מַשָּׂא is the load borne.
מַשָּׂא (massa, “burden”) comes from נָשָׂא (nasa, “lift, carry, bear”). The related נָשִׂיא (nasi, “prince, leader”) means one raised up; though Hosea uses שָׂרִים (sarim, “princes”), this shared root elsewhere joins the raised ruler to the weight carried below.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: To lift, carry, or bear.
נָשָׂא
It makes the burden something people must carry, not just an abstract political cost.
nasi: A prince or leader; literally, one raised up.
נָשִׂיא
This related word ties elevation into leadership to the language of bearing a load.
יִתְּנוּ
yittenu
GROWS FROM
נָתַן
Give, set, place; יִתְּנוּ means “they give” and, in this context, refers to giving or paying among the nations.
The verb rendered “hired” comes from נָתַן (natan, “give, set, place”). The wording brings the transaction into view: what is given among the nations does not secure independence from the ruler’s reach.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
It reveals the exchange beneath the act of hiring: something is given or placed into the arrangement.
mattanah: A gift.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun keeps the act of giving concrete, highlighting the payment offered in the exchange.
THE PATTERN
The power chosen to secure a people can become the weight they carry.
He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.THE THREAD
Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.Ezekiel places מַשָּׂא (massa, “burden”) beside נָשִׂיא (nasi, “prince”), both drawing from נָשָׂא (nasa, “lift, carry”). Hosea uses שָׂרִים (sarim, “princes”), but Ezekiel’s wording makes the kinship plain: the raised ruler and the weight borne below belong to the same picture.
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