Hosea 9:17
“My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Because the people would not listen, the LORD will send them away to become homeless wanderers among the nations.
What Does Hosea 9:17 Mean?
The chapter closes with Hosea's own confession, 'my God,' even as he announces the sentence. Because the people would not hearken, would not listen and obey, they will be cast away and scattered, becoming wanderers without a home among the nations. The root of their exile is named plainly: a refusal to hear.
To wander without a home is the outward shape of a heart that would not listen to its God. Yet Hosea still says 'my God,' clinging to him even in lament, and that quiet faith is a thread of hope running through the gloom. The same Lord who scatters the unhearing gathers the returning, seeking the lost until they are found. The wanderer always has a way home through the Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to seek the one.
In the Original Language
shama (שָׁמַע), 'hearken' -- to hear in a way that heeds and obeys, not merely to listen.