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Selected Verse: Hosea 5:15 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ho 5:15	Strong Concordance	I will go [03212] and return [07725] to my place [04725], till they acknowledge their offence [0816], and seek [01245] my face [06440]: in their affliction [06862] they will seek me early [07836].
	King James	I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
return to my place--that is, withdraw My favor. till they acknowledge their offence--The Hebrew is, "till they suffer the penalty of their guilt." Probably "accepting the punishment of their guilt" (compare Zac 11:5) is included in the idea, as English Version translates. Compare Lev 26:40-41; Jer 29:12-13; Eze 6:9; Eze 20:43; Eze 36:31. seek my face--that is, seek My favor (Pro 29:26, Margin). in . . . affliction . . . seek me early--that is, diligently; rising up before dawn to seek Me (Psa 119:147; compare Psa 78:34).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

return to my place--that is, withdraw My favor.

till they acknowledge their offence--The Hebrew is, "till they suffer the penalty of their guilt." Probably "accepting the punishment of their guilt" (compare Zac 11:5) is included in the idea, as English Version translates. Compare Lev 26:40-41; Jer 29:12-13; Eze 6:9; Eze 20:43; Eze 36:31.

seek my face--that is, seek My favor (Pro 29:26, Margin).

in . . . affliction . . . seek me early--that is, diligently; rising up before dawn to seek Me (Psa 119:147; compare Psa 78:34).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
I will go and return to My place - As the wild beast, when he has taken his prey, returns to his covert, so God, when He had fulfilled His will, would, for the time, withdraw all tokens of his presence. God, who is wholly everywhere, is said to dwell "there," relatively to us, where he manifests Himself, as of old, in the tabernacle, the temple, Zion, Jerusalem. He is said to "go and return," when He withdraws all tokens of His presence, His help, care, and providence. This is worse than any affliction on God's part , "a state like theirs who, in the lowest part of hell, are "delivered into chains of darkness," shut out from His presence, and so from all hope of comfort; and this must needs be their condition, so long as He shall be absent from them; and so perpetually, except there be a way for obtaining again His favorable presence." Till they acknowledge their offence - o: "He who "hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live," withdraws Himself from them, not to cast them off altogether, but that they might know and acknowledge their folly and wickedness, and, seeing there is no comfort out of Him, prefer His presence to those vain things." which they had preferred to Him To say, that God would hide His Face from them, "until they should acknowledge their offence," holds out in itself a gleam of hope, that hereafter they would turn to Him, and would find Him. And seek My Face - The first step in repentance is confession of sin; the second, turning to God. For to own sin without turning to God is the despair of Judas. In their affliction they shall seek Me early - God does not only leave them hopes, that He would show forth his presence, when they sought him, but He promises that they shah seek Him, i. e. He would give them His grace whereby alone they could seek Him, and that grace should be effectual. Of itself affliction drives to despair and more obdurate rebellion and final impenitence. Through the grace of God, "evil brings forth good; fear, love; chastisement, repentance." "They shall seek Me early," originally, "in the morning," i. e., with all diligence and earnestness, as a man riseth early to do what he is very much set upon. So these shall "shake off the sleep of sin and the torpor of listlessness, when the light of repentance shall shine upon them." This was fulfilled in the two tribes, toward the end of the seventy years, when many doubtless, together with Daniel, "set their face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes" Dan 9:2-3; and again in, those "who waited for redemption in Jerusalem" Luk 2:25, Luk 2:38, when our Lord came; and it will be fulfillment in all at the end of the world. "The first flash of thought on the power and goodness of the true Deliverer, is like the morning streaks of a new day. At the sight of that light, Israel shall arise early to seek his God; he shall rise quickly like the Prodigal, out of his wanderings and his indigence."

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

I will go and return to My place - As the wild beast, when he has taken his prey, returns to his covert, so God, when He had fulfilled His will, would, for the time, withdraw all tokens of his presence. God, who is wholly everywhere, is said to dwell "there," relatively to us, where he manifests Himself, as of old, in the tabernacle, the temple, Zion, Jerusalem. He is said to "go and return," when He withdraws all tokens of His presence, His help, care, and providence. This is worse than any affliction on God's part , "a state like theirs who, in the lowest part of hell, are "delivered into chains of darkness," shut out from His presence, and so from all hope of comfort; and this must needs be their condition, so long as He shall be absent from them; and so perpetually, except there be a way for obtaining again His favorable presence."

Till they acknowledge their offence - o: "He who "hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live," withdraws Himself from them, not to cast them off altogether, but that they might know and acknowledge their folly and wickedness, and, seeing there is no comfort out of Him, prefer His presence to those vain things." which they had preferred to Him To say, that God would hide His Face from them, "until they should acknowledge their offence," holds out in itself a gleam of hope, that hereafter they would turn to Him, and would find Him.

And seek My Face - The first step in repentance is confession of sin; the second, turning to God. For to own sin without turning to God is the despair of Judas.

In their affliction they shall seek Me early - God does not only leave them hopes, that He would show forth his presence, when they sought him, but He promises that they shah seek Him, i. e. He would give them His grace whereby alone they could seek Him, and that grace should be effectual. Of itself affliction drives to despair and more obdurate rebellion and final impenitence. Through the grace of God, "evil brings forth good; fear, love; chastisement, repentance." "They shall seek Me early," originally, "in the morning," i. e., with all diligence and earnestness, as a man riseth early to do what he is very much set upon. So these shall "shake off the sleep of sin and the torpor of listlessness, when the light of repentance shall shine upon them."

This was fulfilled in the two tribes, toward the end of the seventy years, when many doubtless, together with Daniel, "set their face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes" Dan 9:2-3; and again in, those "who waited for redemption in Jerusalem" Luk 2:25, Luk 2:38, when our Lord came; and it will be fulfillment in all at the end of the world. "The first flash of thought on the power and goodness of the true Deliverer, is like the morning streaks of a new day. At the sight of that light, Israel shall arise early to seek his God; he shall rise quickly like the Prodigal, out of his wanderings and his indigence."

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
I will go and return to my place - I will abandon them till they acknowledge their offenses. This had the wished-for effect, as we shall see in the following chapter; for they repented and turned to God, and he had mercy upon them. These two verses are considered as instances of the true sublime.

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³⁴ When he slew [02026] them, then they sought [01875] him: and they returned [07725] and enquired early [07836] after God [0410].

¹⁴⁷ I prevented [06923] the dawning of the morning [05399], and cried [07768]: I hoped [03176] in thy word [01697].

²⁶ Many [07227] seek [01245] the ruler's [04910] favour [06440]; but every man's [0376] judgment [04941] cometh from the LORD [03068].

³¹ Then shall ye remember [02142] your own evil [07451] ways [01870], and your doings [04611] that were not good [02896], and shall lothe [06962] yourselves in your own sight [06440] for your iniquities [05771] and for your abominations [08441].

⁴³ And there shall ye remember [02142] your ways [01870], and all your doings [05949], wherein ye have been defiled [02930]; and ye shall lothe [06962] yourselves in your own sight [06440] for all your evils [07451] that ye have committed [06213].

⁹ And they that escape [06412] of you shall remember [02142] me among the nations [01471] whither they shall be carried captives [07617], because I am broken [07665] with their whorish [02181] heart [03820], which hath departed [05493] from me, and with their eyes [05869], which go a whoring [02181] after [0310] their idols [01544]: and they shall lothe [06962] themselves [06440] for the evils [07451] which they have committed [06213] in all their abominations [08441].

¹² Then shall ye call [07121] upon me, and ye shall go [01980] and pray [06419] unto me, and I will hearken [08085] unto you.
¹³ And ye shall seek [01245] me, and find [04672] me, when ye shall search [01875] for me with all your heart [03824].

⁴⁰ If they shall confess [03034] their iniquity [05771], and the iniquity [05771] of their fathers [01], with their trespass [04604] which they trespassed [04603] against me, and that also they have walked [01980] contrary [07147] unto me;
⁴¹ And that I also have walked [03212] contrary [07147] unto them, and have brought [0935] them into the land [0776] of their enemies [0341]; if then [0176] their uncircumcised [06189] hearts [03824] be humbled [03665], and they then accept [07521] of the punishment of their iniquity [05771]:

⁵ Whose possessors [07069] slay [02026] them, and hold themselves not guilty [0816]: and they that sell [04376] them say [0559], Blessed [01288] be the LORD [03068]; for I am rich [06238]: and their own shepherds [07462] pity [02550] them not.

³⁸ And [2532] she [3778] [846] coming in [2186] that [846] instant [5610] gave thanks likewise [437] unto the Lord [2962], and [2532] spake [2980] of [4012] him [846] to all [3956] them that looked [4327] for redemption [3085] in [1722] Jerusalem [2419].

²⁵ And [2532], behold [2400], there was [2258] a man [444] in [1722] Jerusalem [2419], whose [3739] name [3686] was Simeon [4826]; and [2532] the same [3778] man [444] was just [1342] and [2532] devout [2126], waiting [4327] for the consolation [3874] of Israel [2474]: and [2532] the Holy [40] Ghost [4151] was [2258] upon [1909] him [846].

² In the first [0259] year [08141] of his reign [04427] I Daniel [01840] understood [0995] by books [05612] the number [04557] of the years [08141], whereof the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came to Jeremiah [03414] the prophet [05030], that he would accomplish [04390] seventy [07657] years [08141] in the desolations [02723] of Jerusalem [03389].
³ And I set [05414] my face [06440] unto the Lord [0136] God [0430], to seek [01245] by prayer [08605] and supplications [08469], with fasting [06685], and sackcloth [08242], and ashes [0665]: