:
1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. 2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. 3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. 4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. 5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return. 6 And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels. 7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him. 8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. 10 They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. 11 They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD. 12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.
Previous Chapter
Next Chapter
[AD 60] Matthew on Hosea 11:1
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. [Hosea 11:1]
[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Hosea 11:1
Because Israel, symbolically called “son” since Egypt, had lost its sonship through having worshiped Baal and offered incense to idols, John gave them a name which suited them: race of vipers. Because these had lost that title of sonship, which had been poured over them through grace in the days of Moses, they received from John a name congruent with their deeds. After the Lord went down into the land of the Egyptians and had returned from there, the Evangelist said, “Now the true word spoken by the prophet is accomplished.” He said, “I will call my son out of Egypt.” He also said, “He will be called a Nazarene,” because in Hebrew nezer means a “scepter,” and the prophet calls him a “Nazarene” because he is the Son of the scepter.

Source: COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 3:8–9
[AD 390] Gregory of Nazianzus on Hosea 11:1
I will address myself as is right to those who have come from Egypt. They have come here eagerly, having overcome ill will by zeal. They come from that Egypt which is enriched by the river who is Christ, raining out of the earth and like the sea in its season—if I too may follow in my small measure those who have so eloquently spoken of these matters. They too are enriched by Christ my Lord. He too was once fugitive in Egypt; the first, when he fled from Herod’s massacre of the children, and now by the love of the fathers for their children, by Christ the new food of those who hunger after good, who offers the greatest alms of corn of which history speaks and men believe. He is the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world, that life which is indestructible and indissoluble. It is of him that I now seem to hear the Father saying, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.”

Source: ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE EGYPTIANS, ORATION 34:1
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Hosea 11:1
Herod sought him after his birth. He was going to kill all the children in that place. And the prophet revealed this too, foretelling it long beforehand when he said, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, mourning and much weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are not.” The Scriptures also predicted that he would come to Egypt when they said, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Source: DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 3:7
[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 11:1-2
"Just as the morning passes, the king of Israel passes away: for Israel is a boy, and I have loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt: they called them: so they went from their presence: they sacrificed to Baalim, and offered sacrifices to idols." LXX: "They have cast off the morning, the king of Israel has been cast off, because Israel is a little one, and I have loved him, and have called his sons out of Egypt. As I called them, so they went away from my face: they immolated to Baalim, and burnt incense to idols." He explains the same idea in different ways. As he previously said: "He made his king pass over Samaria like foam on the surface of the water", because foam and bubbles that float on the surface of water rapidly dissolve; now he puts the same thing in another comparison. Just as the dawn and the beginning of the day, which is called morning, quickly passes between the night and the vicinity of the sun; so that the night is finished and daybreak comes: so the king of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, will pass quickly. And He explains the benefits that God had conferred upon himself. He says: "While I was still a young boy and a captive in Egypt, I loved him so much that I sent my servant Moses to call my Son out of Egypt, of whom I spoke in another place, 'My firstborn Son, Israel' (Exodus IV). And because Israel is singularly spoken of, but understood in a plural sense, like both the people and Ephraim and Judah: since there are many in number who are included in this number, an old history recalls that He had called them through Moses and Aaron, who had called them to leave Egypt: but those who were called by them left them, turning their backs on them and indicating by bodily gesture the stubbornness of their minds. Nor was it enough for them to despise those who called upon them unless they sacrificed to Baal and their idols, or offered incense to their images. We read that Baal was first worshipped under Achab, king of Israel, who took as his wife the daughter of the king of Sidon, and transferred the idol of Babylon and the Phoenicians to Samaria. Thus, he combines sins separated by time into one discourse: how they were first called from Egypt and named sons, then withdrew from God in the wilderness, worshipping Beelphegor more than God, and afterwards served Baalim and Astaroth, and other idols in the holy land. And we understand heretics passing by like the dawn, and their king as the devil or heresiarch, whom in infancy (when they believed in the Church, and were little ones, and were considered in Christ's name) God loved, and called them out of the tribulation and darkness of Egypt. He called through the apostles and teachers of the Church. But when they were called by my leaders, they turned away from them, and worshiped Beelphegor, that is, they served their vices and lust, and afterwards sacrificed to Baalim and idols, which they had fashioned for themselves. For each heretic has his own gods, and they worship whatever they have made as if it were an idol or a statue. As for what we have said, "Out of Egypt I have called my Son" (Matth. II), the Septuagint translated it to "Out of Egypt I have called his sons," which is not in the Hebrew; there is no doubt that Matthew took this testimony according to the Hebrew truth. Therefore, those who disparage our translation should provide Scripture from which the Evangelist took this testimony, and it should be interpreted in the Lord and Savior, when he was brought back from Egypt to the land of Israel. And when they cannot find (it), they cease to ask respectfully, arch their eyebrow, curl their nostrils, and snap their fingers. Julian Augustus vomited (slanders) against us Christians in this place, in the seventh volume, and says: that which is written of Israel, Matthew the evangelist translated to Christ, in order to mock the simplicity of those who believed from the nations. We will respond to this briefly: Firstly, that Matthew published the Gospel in Hebrew letters, which the Hebrews alone could read. Therefore, he did not do it to mock the Gentiles. But if he wanted to mock the Hebrews, he was either foolish or ignorant: foolish, if he concocted an obvious falsehood; ignorant, if he did not understand what he was saying. The work itself excuses any foolishness, since it is prudently and carefully arranged; we cannot call him ignorant, since we know from other testimony of the Scriptures that he had knowledge of the Law. It remains for us to say that those things that precede in others typologically are related to Christ according to truth and fulfillment: which we know the Apostle did in the two mountains, Sinai and Zion, and in Sarah and Hagar. For neither is Sinai now, nor is it Zion: neither was it Sara, nor was it Agar; because the Apostle Paul said these things with respect to the two Testaments (Gal. IV). Therefore, what is written: "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a perfect nation: I the Lord will suddenly do this thing in its time," is indeed said of the people of Israel, who are called forth from Egypt, who are loved, who at that time, after the error of idolatrous worship, are called like infants and little ones: but it is also perfectly referred to Christ. For Isaac also was a figure of Christ in that he carried the wood for his own sacrifice (Gen 22); and Jacob, because he had a wife whom he did not love (Leah) and one whom he did (Rachel) (Gen 29). In Leah, the elder sister, we may understand the blindness of the Synagogue; in Rachel’s beauty, the glory of the Church. Yet those who in some degree are figures of the Lord’s Saviourship, are not in every detail to be believed to have done the same things in a figure. For a type indicates a part: but if the whole precedes in the type, it is no longer a type, but should be called the truth of history. We said this briefly in the Commentaries; now let us return to the rest.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 11:1-2
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Hosea 11:1
It is as a result of folly and a childish attitude that they suffer this punishment. I recalled them from Egypt and freed them from that harsh servitude, but they proved ungrateful to me and opted for the worship of the idols (referring to them as “Baals”). Though I was the one who taught them to walk, who cured them of their awkward gait, showed them paternal affection and applied all kinds of healing to them, they refused to acknowledge me, even though I protected them from manifold destruction at the hands of the invaders as if clutching them to me in love like a kind of bond. It is in love that even now I care for them and invest them in these chastisements, acting in the manner of someone striking a forward child on the cheek.

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 11:1–4
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Hosea 11:1
I called my son: Viz., Israel. But as the calling of Israel out of Egypt, was a figure of the calling of Christ from thence; therefore this text is also applicable to Christ, as we learn from Matthew 2. 15.
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Hosea 11:2
They called: Viz., Moses and Aaron called; but they went away after other gods and would not hear.
[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 11:3-4
"And I, as a foster father to Ephraim, carried them in my arms, and they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with cords of Adam, with the bonds of love. And I will be to them like one who lifts the yoke from their cheeks, and I inclined to him so he could eat." LXX: "And I gathered" ((or "placed")) Ephraim, I took him up on my arm; and they did not know that I healed them in the corruption of humans. I drew them with the cords of my love. And I will be to them like one who gives slaps on his cheeks, and I will look at him being strong." The Hebrew and the edition of the interpreters differ much from one another. Therefore, let us try to recount the history according to the Hebrews; to write a comprehensive account according to the Septuagint. The one who said above: "I loved the son of Israel, and called him out of Egypt," and later brought to light the crime he had committed, "they were sacrificing to the Baals and to the idols," now tells how Israel was beloved through as per Deuteronomy: "The Lord your God has carried you, as a man carries his little son, in all the ways that you have gone," "until you came to this place" (Deut. I, 31). And in another place: "He spread his wings and took him, and carried him on his shoulders" (Ibid. XXXII, 11). I, he said, who was a father, became a nurse, and I carried my little one in my arms, so that he would not be harmed in the wilderness, and so that he would not be frightened by either heat or darkness. In the day I was a cloud, in the night a pillar of fire (Exod. XIII): so that those who I had protected, I might enlighten and heal them with my light. And when they had sinned and had made themselves a calf's head, I gave them a place for repentance, and they did not know that I cured them, and for the space of forty years, I covered the wound of idolatry and restored them to their former health. But I cared for them because of the cords and bands of charity, with which I bound them as if with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, Aquilae, Symmachus, Septuagint, and Theodotio translated "Adam" as "men": so they would say, "I will draw them in the cords of men, in the bands of charity." And what follows: "I will be to them as one lifting up the yoke," for which Symmachus interpreted: "and they thought that I would put a yoke on their jaw," is understood in two ways: either I took away from them the yoke of all the nations round about, or they thought that my Law was like the heaviest weight of a yoke. And I gave them manna to eat in the desert (Exodus 16), that they might eat, for this is what he says, "I have turned to him to be fed:" for which Symmachus interpreted, "and I have turned to him with food." Not that God turned to him, but that he made the food of manna turn to him. Otherwise: I loved them so much and was such a merciful shepherd, that I myself carried the sick sheep on my shoulders (Luke 15): but they themselves did not know that I cared for them with my passion; and as I am a lover of all people, I drew them to believe in the bonds of love, according to what is written in the Gospel: "No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44). And they thought my yoke light, to be very heavy: and I turned to them forsaking the kingdom of heaven, to eat with them, assuming the form of a man, or gave them food of my body: both the food and the guest. Let us go to spiritual understanding, according to the Septuagint only interpreters: lest if we want to explain both according to history and according to interpretation, we tend to the size of the book. When they sacrifice Baalim, things they have made from their own hearts, and when they flee from my face at my call (for thus it is contained in the Septuagint), I, the most merciful Lord, bound the feet of Ephraim so that they would not flee further from me: this is what συνεπόδισα means. But I bound (them) by the testimonies of the Scriptures, and by the discussion of the teachers of the Church, so that by patience it would hold bound with its arms those who did not understand that God's patience was an opportunity for their salvation. Hence, in the corruption of men, namely, of teachers, who had deceived them bound by the coldness of their treachery, I extended the warmth of faith and, as it were, binding those who resisted, I bound them with the bonds of my love. And because they did not run according to their own will, but were dragged by ropes, I slightly struck their cheeks with slaps, not punishing them, but correcting and improving. "The judge tears flesh, twists with ropes, and tortures with whips and fire. But a father, he who is, strikes the wanton son with the palm of his hand. And he did not say beautifully, 'I will beat them with slaps,' but striking the cheeks with his hand like a man. But God strikes errant sons with the threat of punishments, with the reading of the Gospel, and with the testimony of the prophets. And when he strikes thus on the cheek, that he may drive out from the foul mouth of heretics their bread and doctrine: then he looks at him, his son having been beaten, saying to him, 'Look at me, and have mercy on me.'" (Psalm LXXXV,16) And again: "Look upon me and hear me, O Lord my God" (Psalm XII, 4). And when he has looked upon him, he shall prevail, or be helpful to them, that is, he shall overcome his adversaries, and shall make slaves flee. And he shall give them true and sweet food, who before devoured the lies and most bitter food of heretics.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 11:3-4
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Hosea 11:3
“Because I am kind and good, I bound the feet of Ephraim,” that is, the whole Israel … although he was awkward. God himself declares why this is so: “I will take them in my arms.” This image is from child raising. Those who take infants in their arms are those who bind their feet, bringing their feet together. For it is necessary, I think, that the thighs and knees of anyone who sits down should be drawn together. And in fact this is so. “I bound the feet” as, for instance, it was written about Abraham, who bound his son Isaac when he thought to bring him as a sacrifice to God. One must note that the Hebrew version and other versions do not have “I bound the feet” but rather “I became as one who nourishes Ephraim.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 6:126
[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 11:4
And as the lover of humankind I will draw them to believing in cords of love, just as that which is written in the Gospel: “No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me will have drawn him.” But they thought that my light yoke was very heavy; and I bent toward them, leaving the kingdom of heaven so that I may eat with them, having assumed the human form. Or rather, I gave them my body as food; I was both food and table companion.

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 3:11
[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 11:5-7
"It won't return to the land of Egypt, and Assur himself" (The Vulgate adds "is") "its king, because they refused to convert. The sword has begun in its cities, and will consume its chosen ones: it will eat their heads, and my people will hang in my return. But a yoke will be imposed on them together, which will not be removed." LXX: "Ephraim will dwell in Egypt, and Assur himself will be its king: because he did not want to convert. And the sword grew weak in its cities, and rested in his hands, and they will eat of his thoughts: and his people is suspended from their sojourn, and God is angry with its treasures, and will not exalt him." When it says: "it won't return to the land of Egypt," it shows that it wants to return, but can't go. But Israel wanted to go back seeking help from the Egyptians; but he was captured by Assyria, who took him, and ruled him with the right of the victor, and he suffered this because he did not want to turn back, nor to repent. Or let us certainly say that he returned to the land of Egypt, when he worshiped the gods of Egypt in the holy land, or it is to be understood in that sense, as has been said above: "They called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians." Therefore, the sword began in its cities, whether "it will fall," as Aquila interpreted, or "it will wound," as Symmachus translated. And see how great a weight of miseries it is, so that not only fields or possessions and countryside are devastated; but the enemy enters the very heart of the cities and consumes their chosen ones, or "his arms," as Symmachus interpreted, which in Hebrew is called Baddau. And when the sword has consumed the chosen and the leaders, or the strength of the army, and has devoured either their heads or their counsels, so that they cannot find any aid, then the miserable people who did not want to return to me will wait for my return to them. And he who sows will repent, with enemies laying waste to everything. Therefore, because great sins are to be punished by great punishments, they will impose on those who have been abandoned by their people (with their king and Assyrian princes cut down by the sword) the heaviest yoke of slavery, and they will also impose what will not be taken away according to the letter, unless it is taken away spiritually in Christ. According to the Seventy, Ephraim will dwell in Egypt, saying that he has the holy land and the Church of the Lord Savior; but he has always stayed in Egypt because of vices, sins, and faithlessness. Therefore, as he dwelt in Egypt, his understanding will be great as an Assyrian king: for he will not return to the Church, and having lost his strength, that is, Christ, who is the power and wisdom of God, he was always in weakness, and was subject to all demons and disturbances: for this reason the sword, that is, spiritual knowledge, or the word of the Ecclesiastic man, will always be present in his cities, which he impiously built against the Lord, and the sword will rest in his hands, so that being slain by another, he cannot kill another, nor raise his hand against his adversary. Finally, they receive and consume according to their own plans. But the unhappy people and the uneducated crowd will long for their ancient homeland, and they will realize that they have been captured, and whether they hang in their own dwelling, not knowing what to do and where to turn. But God, above their valuable possessions, namely the gold and silver they received from Him, of which we have often spoken, will be angry, and will by no means free him who fell due to his own fault. This is according to the Septuagint; however, we will adapt the same meaning to the Hebrew.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 11:5-7
[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 11:8-9
"How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city." LXX: "What shall I do unto thee, Ephraim? shall I protect thee, Israel? what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goes forth. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." In the place where we and the seventy were interpreters, is it written in Hebrew "Shall I protect you, Israel?" which Aquila rendered into Greek as, "I will surround you with a shield." When we thought that this might be understood in a favorable sense and might indicate protection, the opposite meaning is suggested by the edition of Symmachus, which has, "I will surrender you." The translation of Theodotion is also unfavorable, but unfavorable in a different way: "I will strip you," he says, "and take away your weapon," that is, "the shield" with which I had previously protected you; and this meaning is more in keeping with the Lord's threatening. Therefore what he says is this: because they did not want to repent, and Assur became their king, the sword will devour cities, princes, and the people, and a yoke will be imposed upon them which will not be taken from them. And because the sentence seemed harsh, leaving them no place for repentance, God, as a concerned parent, now speaks to Israel: "What shall I do for thee, Ephraim?" How shall I strip thee by my help? What shall I do for thee? By what means shall I correct thee? By what remedy can I heal you? Like Admah and Zeboiim I will make you, which are two of the five cities, just as we read in Genesis: 'Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim and Bela, which is called Segor,' and in the Syrian language 'Zoar.' Therefore, I will make you and turn you into a desert, and I will wipe you out until you become ashes and dust, just as I wiped out Admah and Zeboiim. And when a harsh, indeed cruel, sentence had been pronounced, the father is again overcome by his affection for his child, and with his kindness he moderates the severity of his judgement. For he says, "My heart is turned within me; all my sorrow is stirred up." As soon as I spoke, there was something in my heart that moved me to mercy; I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath; I will not destroy Ephraim again: for I am God, and not man; and I will not consume them in my indignation: but I will instruct them, by opening their eyes to their iniquity. My cruelty is the opportunity for penance and piety: "I am God, not a man." Man punishes in order to destroy, God corrects in order to improve. "I am holy in your midst and will not enter the city," meaning, I am not one of those who dwell in cities, who live by human laws, who consider cruelty to be justice, for whom the highest law is the greatest malice; but my law, and my justice, is to save those who are corrected. We can also say: because first Cain, a parricide, built a city in the name of his son Enoch, the Lord does not enter such a city, which is made of wickedness, blood, and parricide. However, if we want to read, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel?", it should be understood: What shall I do with you? Are you worthy of protection, for you have done so much? Note also that when it is said against Judah, that is, the people of God, it is not Admah and Zeboiim that are mentioned but Sodom and Gomorrah. For we read in Isaiah: "Hear the law of God, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the word of the Lord, you people of Gomorrah" (Isai. I, 10). Likewise, in the Gospel, the city that did not receive the apostles, when they shook the dust from their feet, is said to be worse off on the day of judgment than the land of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. X). And the prophetic word is also directed at Jerusalem: "Sodom has been justified by your example" (Ezek. XVI). Therefore, suspicion is given to us that Sodom and Gomorrah were leaders in sin, and Adama and Seboim followed their examples, that the powerful suffer powerful torments: and that servant who knows the will of his Lord, and does not do it, shall be beaten with many [stripes]. Hence even the learned men of Ecclesiasticus, if they are involved in the same crimes as heretics, will be subject not to the punishments of Adama and Seboim, which are inferior but to those of Sodom and Gomorrah, which are said to be greater crimes. To heretics also and those deceived by them, the Lord speaks to the people, that unless they repent, they will be put like Adama and Seboim, so that they have no hope of salvation. Again, as a most merciful father, he says he will change his own decision and repent of having spoken such things, so that he may also provoke them to conversion and penance. 'I will not make,' he said, 'in my fury, I will not destroy Ephraim. As much as it is in me, as much as I desire, if he corrects error with truth, if he loves me more than the leaders of heresy, for 'I am God and not man,' I will extend my hand to the fallen, and call the wandering towards salvation. And because I am holy, I will not enter a city, that is, the assemblies and cities of heretics. I willingly receive those who leave their cities, but I will not enter their cities. What he said, "I will not enter the city," and, according to the LXX, is followed by, "I will walk after the Lord," some have interpreted as meaning that the people responded to the Lord, and that the sense is: Because your heart has turned to you, and you have not made us according to our sins; but you imitate your clemency, and do not punish our sins, and you promise to be holy and merciful and to dwell among us; therefore, I will not enter the city of evil men: nor will I be among the number of sinners; but I will walk after the Lord my God. But the Hebrews, from the person of God, have thus spoken: I will not abandon you, I will not go to another people, nor enter another city.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 11:8-9
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Hosea 11:8
Adama: Adama and Seboim were two cities in the neighbourhood of Sodom: and underwent the like destruction.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Hosea 11:9
The philanthropy of God does not tolerate [abandonment]. “What can I do for you? Shall I view you as I did Sodom and destroy you like Gomorrah? My heart is upset.” Here the love of God appears to imitate the passionate human being or, better yet, the affectionate mother. “My heart is upset, just as a woman would say about her child. My heart is upset just like the mother’s.” However, the previous metaphor was only partially adequate. “My heart is troubled in my regret”? God is troubled! Let no one ever think it! God forbid!

Source: HOMILIES ON REPENTANCE AND ALMSGIVING 4:18
[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 11:9
In the same book, it is written, “I am God and not man, the holy one in the midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city,” into the den, to be sure, of vices. He himself is the only one who does not enter into the city that Cain built in the name of his son, Enoch. All of this is chanted daily by the lips of the priests: ho monos anamartētos, which in our language is translated as qui solus est sine peccato.

Source: AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 2:23
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Hosea 11:9
“My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute the fierceness of my anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim.” God imitates a father and mother who are naturally worried and cannot turn away from their children for too long. He says that, however, not because he wills one thing now and then changes his mind. Rather, he expresses his thought in different ways, in anger and love, in threat and mercy, chastising and persuading.

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 11
[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 11:10-11
"After the Lord they shall walk: He shall roar like a lion: for He shall roar, and the children of the sea shall fear, and shall fly away like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of the Assyrians: and I will place them in their houses, saith the Lord." LXX: "After the Lord I will walk; he will roar like a lion, because he will roar, and the sons of water will be afraid and fly like birds from Egypt, and like a dove from the land of the Assyrians, and I will place them in their houses, says the Lord." With the Lord promising success, the people will turn to Him: and they shall walk after the Lord, for the Lord shall roar like a lion. Of which also the prophet Amos recalls: 'The Lord will roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem He shall give His voice' (Amos 1:2). And He will roar when He says: 'I will make you like Sodom.' And when He roars, then the sons of the sea, or of the waters, will tremble, as the LXX translated. For the word Maim, which is written with three letters Mem, Yod, Mem: if it is read Maim, it means 'waters'; if Mejam, it is understood as 'from the sea.' The Hebrews refer these things to the coming of Christ, whom they hope will come. "We have now become convinced that from Egypt and Assyria, that is, from the East and the West, and from the North and the South, those who recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have come, and come daily (Matthew 8). However, we can call the sons of the sea or the waters those who have been caught in the Lord's dragnet and taken from the sea of this world (Matthew 13:47). And when they have been taken from death to life, they will be placed in their own houses, which the Gospel calls granaries, in which selected and separated wheat is stored." (Matthew 13) It is said that it is the nature of lions that when they roar and roar, all animals tremble, and they cannot move with fixed steps: such is the terror and so great the fear. And so, when the Lord roars like a lion, and thunders, and gives his voice, all the birds and all flying things will tremble: and they will go to their nests, that is, to their homes where the Lord will dwell with them. Let us also say this differently: When a true lion roars, the false lion, who is our adversary according to the Apostle Peter, will immediately be silent, and he will not be able to open his perverse mouth to any doctrine: and those who were previously captured by him, loosened by the roar of the lion and terrible threats, will follow their Lord God. Then the sons of the sea or waters will fear, who were born in bitterness and salty waters of heretics; and having taken wings, they will fly like birds from Egypt and like doves from Assyrian land, and will say: "Who will give me wings like doves, and I will fly and rest"(Ps. LIV, 7)? So those who had labored among the heretics may rest in the Church and dwell in their homes from which they were seduced by error. Egypt, that is, we know as "trouble" and "distress"; likewise, concerning Assyrians, we recognize as "leaders" or, as we think better, "accusers." Therefore, heretics will be freed from them when they start living in their own homes and say to their wicked parents, "Your house will be left empty to you" (Matt. 23).

Source: Commentary on Hosea 11:10-11
[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 11:12
"Ephraim surrounded me with his falsehood, and the house of Israel and Judah with his deceitfulness. But now God has perceived them, and they will be called people of God's sanctuary." The Hebrews tell a story of this kind: In the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, when on one side there was a mountain, on the other the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army surrounded them, and the trapped people were held, the other tribes despairing of salvation and either wishing to return to Egypt or wanting to fight, only Judah faithfully entered the sea. Hence, he deserved to receive the kingdom and this is what is now called "Juda testis sermonum Dei," and an approver and defender he descended with God into the sea, and among the saints he was the most faithful, that he might believe the words of God's command. They say this to him. Let us follow the order of the explanation undertaken, which surrounded Ephraim, the royal tribe, and the house of Israel, the people who served the royal tribes, and surrounded him in denial or falsehood, while they denied the Lord and confessed idols. But Judah, that is, the two tribes which had the Temple, the Law, the Prophets, and kept the legal precepts, were witnesses, and walked faithfully with God and with the holy ones. We can say the saints or the angels, the patriarchs and prophets, and others who served God's command. For in comparison to that time when these things were being said, Ephraim had completely gone astray and Israel had been deceived into the worship of idols; only Judah remained, who was engaged in the worship of God and his testimonies, and was able to go down with him, or be strong with strength: for "root" signifies both descent and strength, for which reason Aquila translated the term as "dominion." Heretics surround the Lord with falsehood, even with denial, according to their deduction. Whatever they say, it is a denial, rather a lie: and they surround Him in deceit or in the impiety of the house of Israel; while all things they pretend, they compose with an artful speech and speak impiety against the Lord. But Judas, that is, the ecclesiastical man, does not boast, he is not inflated with heretical pride, but he humbles himself with God, and with the faithful and strong choir of the saints he builds his house upon a rock which is shaken by no storm. (Matt.) They translated the Septuagint much differently: Ephraim and the house of Israel and Judah had surrounded God with lies and impiety, and God's mercy is so great that he does not cut off hope of salvation from them. But he recognizes them and is prepared to call the holy people and the people of God, who are now corrupted by impiety. Similarly, God desires heretics to be saved, and sinners in the church, and that all may be called by his name. "But he who is truly holy, does not surround God with a lie, but with truth, as the psalmist says: 'You are powerful, Lord, and your truth surrounds you'" (Psalm 88:9).

Source: Commentary on Hosea 11:12