For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind - (Proverbs 22:8, "He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity;" Galatians 6:7). They reap not merely as they have sown, "the wind," but, with deadly increase, "the whirlwind," or (as the Hebrew is an intensive form), 'the violent whirlwind.' "Sow ... wind" - i:e., to make the vain show of worship, while faith and obedience are wanting (Calvin). Rather to offer senseless supplications to the calves for good harvests (cf. Hosea 2:8).
It hath no stalk - the result is, that God will make them reap "no stalk" - i:e., standing grain. Also, the phraseology proverbially means, that all their undertakings shall be profitless (Proverbs 11:29; Ecclesiastes 5:16).
The bud shall yield no meal - the "bud" or 'growth.'
If so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up - "strangers," foreigners (Hosea 7:9).