Hosea 13:14

But a father cannot long endure to contemplate the prospect of his child's ruin.

from the power of the grave … from death Rather, from the hand of Sheól … from Death. Sheól and Death are used synonymously for the nether world (as in Isaiah 28:15; Psalms 6:5; Psalms 49:14). In Isaiah 5:14 Sheól has an enormous mouth; so here a hand.

O death … destruction So Gesenius, following the Targum and Vulgate. But, as Dr Pusey remarks, on this view of the construction, we must render -I would be thy plagues", &c., whereas the context requires an absolute declaration. Render therefore, Where are thy plagues, O Sheól? where thy pestilence, O Death? (Comp. Psalms 91:6 Hebr.). -The plagues are the mille viœ letithe many kinds of sickness, the most terrible of which is called "the firstborn of Death", Job 18:13 (Hitzig). Though all the plagues which fill the dark city of Sheól were let loose upon Israel as a nation, they would be incapable of destroying Jehovah's -son." St Paul quotes these words (1 Corinthians 15:55) in a translation of his own either as proving the doctrine of the Resurrection, or simply as well expressing his own triumphant feelings. Triumphant the tone of Hosea's words certainly is, and hence some have thought Jehovah calls for the pestilences as agents in Israel's threatened destruction, taking the first part of the verse interrogatively, -From the hand of Sheól should I ransom them? from Death should I redeem them?" But this is not the most natural explanation, nor is it required on the above view of the context.

repentance shall be hid Rather, repentance is hid. Perhaps an assurance of the irrevocable nature of the promise. But as the tone of promise is so transient, it seems better to take this clause in connexion with the threat of judgment in Hosea 13:12 of which indeed it may possibly once have formed the third member. At any rate, we need a resumption of threatening here, to prepare the way for the stern announcement in Hosea 13:15.