The Meaning of Hosea 7:15 Explained

Hosea 7:15

KJV: Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

YLT: And I instructed -- I strengthened their arms, And concerning Me they think evil!

Darby: I have indeed trained, I have strengthened their arms, but they imagine mischief against me.

ASV: Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet do they devise mischief against me.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Though I have bound  [and] strengthened  their arms,  yet do they imagine  mischief  against me. 

What does Hosea 7:15 Mean?

Verse Meaning

It was Yahweh who had taught His people how to be strong. He had also made them strong militarily (cf. Ezekiel 30:24-25), for example, during Jeroboam II"s reign (cf. 2 Kings 14:25-28). Yet they had used what He had given them to sin against Him (cf. Genesis 50:20). They treated Him as their enemy. This was further evidence of their ingratitude.

Context Summary

Hosea 7:1-16 - Iniquity Uncovered
The last clause of the previous chapter belongs to this. God desired to turn aside the captivity of His people and to heal Israel, but His pleading was unavailing because of their inveterate sin. This evil-doing witnessed against them, Hosea 7:2. Their passions did not need incitement, just as an oven retains its heat without the baker's continued attention. The royal birthday was celebrated with drunken orgies, and the national religion had become a confused mixture of Gentile superstition and the old Hebrew faith. In this Israel resembled a cake not turned-crisp on one side, sour and uneatable on the other, Hosea 7:8.
What a searching suggestion comes in Hosea 7:9! Can it be that strangers have been stealing away our strength, without our realizing that deterioration is creeping steadily through our religious life? Silently the frosty air steals the warmth from boiling water; silently the fungus pitches its tent in the autumn woods; silently old age fastens on the stalwart frame. Thus also our spiritual strength declines, unless we watch and pray; and when it ebbs away, we become foolish as the dove which flies straight into the snare, and useless as the deceitful bow which turns aside in the archer's hand, Hosea 7:11; Hosea 7:16. [source]

Chapter Summary: Hosea 7

1  A reproof of manifold sins
11  God's wrath against them for their hypocrisy

What do the individual words in Hosea 7:15 mean?

And Though I disciplined [and] strengthened their arms and yet against Me they devise evil
וַאֲנִ֣י יִסַּ֔רְתִּי חִזַּ֖קְתִּי זְרֽוֹעֹתָ֑ם וְאֵלַ֖י יְחַשְּׁבוּ־ רָֽע

וַאֲנִ֣י  And  Though  I 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Pronoun, first person common singular
Root: אֲנִי  
Sense: I (first pers.
יִסַּ֔רְתִּי  disciplined 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: יָסַר 
Sense: to chasten, discipline, instruct, admonish.
חִזַּ֖קְתִּי  [and]  strengthened 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: חָזַק  
Sense: to strengthen, prevail, harden, be strong, become strong, be courageous, be firm, grow firm, be resolute, be sore.
זְרֽוֹעֹתָ֑ם  their  arms 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: זְרֹועַ  
Sense: arm, forearm, shoulder, strength.
וְאֵלַ֖י  and  yet  against  Me 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition, first person common singular
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
יְחַשְּׁבוּ־  they  devise 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: חָשַׁב 
Sense: to think, plan, esteem, calculate, invent, make a judgment, imagine, count.
רָֽע  evil 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: רַע 
Sense: bad, evil.