Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Hosea 6:8 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ho 6:8 |
Strong Concordance |
Gilead [01568] is a city [07151] of them that work [06466] iniquity [0205], and is polluted [06121] with blood [01818]. |
| |
King James |
Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Gilead . . . city--probably Ramoth-gilead, metropolis of the hilly region beyond Jordan, south of the Jabbok, known as "Gilead" (Kg1 4:13; compare Gen 31:21-25).
work iniquity-- (Hos 12:11).
polluted with blood--"marked with blood-traces" [MAURER]. Referring to Gilead's complicity in the regicidal conspiracy of Pekah against Pekahiah (Kg2 15:25). See on Hos 6:1. Many homicides were there, for there were beyond Jordan more cities of refuge, in proportion to the extent of territory, than on this side of Jordan (Num 35:14; Deu 4:41-43; Jos 20:8). Ramoth-gilead was one. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity - If we regard "Gilead," (as it elsewhere is,) as the country beyond Jordan, where the two tribes and a half dwelt, this will mean that the whole land was banded in one, as one city of evil-doers. It had an unity, but of evil. As the whole world has been pictured as divided between "the city of God" and the city of the devil, consisting respectively of the children of God and the children of the devil; so the whole of Gilead may be represented as one city, whose inhabitants had one occupation in common, to work evil. Some think that there was a city so called, although not mentioned elsewhere in Holy Scripture, near that Mount Gilead, dear to the memory of Israel, because God there protected their forefather Jacob. Some think that it was Ramoth in Gilead , which God appointed as "a city of refuge," and which, consequently, became a city of Levites and priests Jos 21:38.
Here, where God had preserved the life of their forefather, and, in him, had preserved them; here, where He had commanded the innocent shedder of blood to be saved; here, where he had appointed those to dwell, whom He had hallowed to Himself, all was turned to the exact contrary. It, which God had hallowed, was become "a city of workers of iniquity," i. e., of people, whose habits and custom was to work iniquity. It, where God had appointed life to be preserved, was "polluted" or "tracked with blood." Everywhere it was marked and stained with the bloody footsteps of those, who (as David said) "put" innocent "blood in their shoes which were on their feet" Kg1 2:5, staining their shoes with blood which they shed, so that, wherever they went, they left marks and signs of it." "Tracked with blood" it was, through the sins of its inhabitants; "tracked with blood" it was again, when it first was taken captive Kg2 15:29, and "it, which had swum with the innocent blood of others, swam with the guilty blood of its own people." It is a special sin, and especially avenged of God, when what God had hallowed, is made the scene of sin. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The prophet cites a few examples in proof of this faithlessness in the two following verses. Hos 6:8. "Gilead is a city of evil-doers, trodden with blood. Hos 6:9. And like the lurking of the men of the gangs is the covenant of the priests; along the way they murder even to Sichem: yea, they have committed infamy." Gilead is not a city, for no such city is mentioned in the Old Testament, and its existence cannot be proved from Jdg 12:7 and Jdg 10:17, any more than from Gen 31:48-49,
(Note: The statement of the Onomast. (s.v. Γαλαάδ), that there is also a city called Galaad, situated in the mountain which Galaad the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, took for the Amorite, and that of Jerome, "from which mountain the city built in it derived its name, viz., that which was taken," etc., furnish no proof of the existence of a city called Gilead in the time of the Israelites; since Eusebius and Jerome have merely inferred the existence of such a city from statements in the Old Testament, more especially from the passage quoted by them just before, viz., Jer 22:6, Galaad tu mihi initium Libani, taken in connection with Num 32:39 -43, as the words "which Gilead took" clearly prove. And with regard to the ruined cities Jelaad and Jelaud, which are situated, according to Burckhardt (pp. 599, 600), upon the mountain called Jebel Jelaad or Jelaud, it is not known that they date from antiquity at all. Burckhardt gives no description of them, and does not even appear to have visited the ruins.)
but it is the name of a district, as it is everywhere else; and here in all probability it stands, as it very frequently does, for the whole of the land of Israel to the east of the Jordan. Hosea calls Gilead a city of evil-doers, as being a rendezvous for wicked men, to express the thought that the whole land was as full of evil-doers as a city is of men. עקבּה: a denom. of עקב, a footstep, signifying marked with traces, full of traces of blood, which are certainly not to be understood as referring to idolatrous sacrifices, as Schmieder imagines, but which point to murder and bloodshed. It is quite as arbitrary, however, on the part of Hitzig to connect it with the murder of Zechariah, or a massacre associated with it, as it is on the part of Jerome and others to refer it to the deeds of blood by which Jehu secured the throne. The bloody deeds of Jehu took place in Jezreel and Samaria (2 Kings 9-10), and it was only by a false interpretation of the epithet applied to Shallum, viz., Ben-yâbhēsh, as signifying citizens of Jabesh, that Hitzig was able to trace a connection between it and Gilead. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| A city - A city full of notorious transgressors, the inhabitants though Levites and priests, work all manner of wickedness. With blood - Murders committed there. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity - In this place Jacob and Laban made their covenant, and set up a heap of stones, which was called Galeed, the heap of testimony; and most probably idolatry was set up here. Perhaps the very heap became the object of superstitious adoration. |
8 And on the other side [05676] Jordan [03383] by Jericho [03405] eastward [04217], they assigned [05414] Bezer [01221] in the wilderness [04057] upon the plain [04334] out of the tribe [04294] of Reuben [07205], and Ramoth [07216] in Gilead [01568] out of the tribe [04294] of Gad [01410], and Golan [01474] in Bashan [01316] out of the tribe [04294] of Manasseh [04519].
41 Then Moses [04872] severed [0914] three [07969] cities [05892] on this side [05676] Jordan [03383] toward the sunrising [08121] [04217];
42 That the slayer [07523] might flee [05127] thither, which should kill [07523] his neighbour [07453] unawares [01097] [01847], and hated [08130] him not in times [08543] past [08032]; and that fleeing [05127] unto one [0259] of these [0411] cities [05892] he might live [02425]:
43 Namely, Bezer [01221] in the wilderness [04057], in the plain [04334] country [0776], of the Reubenites [07206]; and Ramoth [07216] in Gilead [01568], of the Gadites [01425]; and Golan [01474] in Bashan [01316], of the Manassites [04520].
14 Ye shall give [05414] three [07969] cities [05892] on this side [05676] Jordan [03383], and three [07969] cities [05892] shall ye give [05414] in the land [0776] of Canaan [03667], which shall be cities [05892] of refuge [04733].
1 Come [03212], and let us return [07725] unto the LORD [03068]: for he hath torn [02963], and he will heal [07495] us; he hath smitten [05221], and he will bind us up [02280].
25 But Pekah [06492] the son [01121] of Remaliah [07425], a captain [07991] of his, conspired [07194] against him, and smote [05221] him in Samaria [08111], in the palace [0759] of the king's [04428] house [01004], with Argob [0709] and Arieh [0745], and with him fifty [02572] men [0376] of the Gileadites [01121] [01569]: and he killed [04191] him, and reigned [04427] in his room.
11 Is there iniquity [0205] in Gilead [01568]? surely they are vanity [07723]: they sacrifice [02076] bullocks [07794] in Gilgal [01537]; yea, their altars [04196] are as heaps [01530] in the furrows [08525] of the fields [07704].
21 So he fled [01272] with all that he had; and he rose up [06965], and passed over [05674] the river [05104], and set [07760] his face [06440] toward the mount [02022] Gilead [01568].
22 And it was told [05046] Laban [03837] on the third [07992] day [03117] that Jacob [03290] was fled [01272].
23 And he took [03947] his brethren [0251] with him, and pursued [07291] after him [0310] seven [07651] days [03117]' journey [01870]; and they overtook [01692] him in the mount [02022] Gilead [01568].
24 And God [0430] came [0935] to Laban [03837] the Syrian [0761] in a dream [02472] by night [03915], and said [0559] unto him, Take heed [08104] that thou speak [01696] not to [05973] Jacob [03290] either good [02896] or [05704] bad [07451].
25 Then Laban [03837] overtook [05381] Jacob [03290]. Now Jacob [03290] had pitched [08628] his tent [0168] in the mount [02022]: and Laban [03837] with his brethren [0251] pitched [08628] in the mount [02022] of Gilead [01568].
13 The son of Geber [01127], in Ramothgilead [01568] [07433]; to him pertained the towns [02333] of Jair [02971] the son [01121] of Manasseh [04519], which are in Gilead [01568]; to him also pertained the region [02256] of Argob [0709], which is in Bashan [01316], threescore [08346] great [01419] cities [05892] with walls [02346] and brasen [05178] bars [01280]:
29 In the days [03117] of Pekah [06492] king [04428] of Israel [03478] came [0935] Tiglathpileser [08407] king [04428] of Assyria [0804], and took [03947] Ijon [05859], and Abelbethmaachah [062], and Janoah [03239], and Kedesh [06943], and Hazor [02674], and Gilead [01568], and Galilee [01551], all the land [0776] of Naphtali [05321], and carried them captive [01540] to Assyria [0804].
5 Moreover thou knowest [03045] also what Joab [03097] the son [01121] of Zeruiah [06870] did [06213] to me, and what he did [06213] to the two [08147] captains [08269] of the hosts [06635] of Israel [03478], unto Abner [074] the son [01121] of Ner [05369], and unto Amasa [06021] the son [01121] of Jether [03500], whom he slew [02026], and shed [07760] the blood [01818] of war [04421] in peace [07965], and put [05414] the blood [01818] of war [04421] upon his girdle [02290] that was about his loins [04975], and in his shoes [05275] that were on his feet [07272].
38 And out of the tribe [04294] of Gad [01410], Ramoth [07433] in Gilead [01568] with her suburbs [04054], to be a city [05892] of refuge [04733] for the slayer [07523]; and Mahanaim [04266] with her suburbs [04054],
39 And the children [01121] of Machir [04353] the son [01121] of Manasseh [04519] went [03212] to Gilead [01568], and took [03920] it, and dispossessed [03423] the Amorite [0567] which was in it.
6 For thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] unto the king's [04428] house [01004] of Judah [03063]; Thou art Gilead [01568] unto me, and the head [07218] of Lebanon [03844]: yet surely I will make [07896] thee a wilderness [04057], and cities [05892] which are not inhabited [03427] [03427].
48 And Laban [03837] said [0559], This heap [01530] is a witness [05707] between me and thee this day [03117]. Therefore was the name [08034] of it called [07121] Galeed [01567];
49 And Mizpah [04709]; for [0834] he said [0559], The LORD [03068] watch [06822] between me and thee, when we are absent [05641] one [0376] from another [07453].
17 Then the children [01121] of Ammon [05983] were gathered together [06817], and encamped [02583] in Gilead [01568]. And the children [01121] of Israel [03478] assembled themselves together [0622], and encamped [02583] in Mizpeh [04709].
7 And Jephthah [03316] judged [08199] Israel [03478] six [08337] years [08141]. Then died [04191] Jephthah [03316] the Gileadite [01569], and was buried [06912] in one of the cities [05892] of Gilead [01568].
9 And as troops [01416] of robbers wait [02442] for a man [0376], so the company [02267] of priests [03548] murder [07523] in the way [01870] by consent [07926] [07927]: for they commit [06213] lewdness [02154].
8 Gilead [01568] is a city [07151] of them that work [06466] iniquity [0205], and is polluted [06121] with blood [01818].