Hosea 10:2-12

2 Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD ^[a] will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.

3 For now they will say: ¹"We have no king, for we do not fear the LORD; and a king--what could he do for us?"

4 They utter ²mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so ³judgment springs up like poisonous weeds ⁴in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for ⁵the calf^[b] of ⁶Beth-aven. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests-- those who rejoiced over it and ⁷over its glory-- for it has departed^[c] from them.

6 ⁸The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to ⁹the great king.^[d] Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed ¹⁰of his idol.^[e]

7 ¹¹Samaria's king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters.

8 The high places of ¹²Aven, ¹³the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. ¹⁴Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and ¹⁵they shall say to the mountains, "Cover us," and to the hills, "Fall on us."

9 From ¹⁶the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust^[f] overtake them in Gibeah?

10 ¹⁷When I please, ¹⁸I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for ¹⁹their double iniquity.

11 Ephraim was a trained calf that ²⁰loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will put ²¹Ephraim to the yoke; ²²Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself.

12 ²³Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; ²⁴break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and ²⁵rain righteousness upon you.

Hosea 10:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 10

This chapter is of the same argument with the former, and others before that; setting forth the sins of the ten tribes, and threatening them with the judgments of God for them; and exhorting them to repentance, and works of righteousness. They are charged with unfruitfulness and ingratitude; increasing in idolatry, as they increased in temporal good things, Ho 10:1; with a divided heart, and with irreverence of God, and their king; and with false swearing, covenant breaking, and injustice, Ho 10:2-4; and are threatened with a removal of their king, and with the destruction of their idols, and places of idolatry, which should cause fear in the common people, and mourning among the priests, Ho 10:1,5-8. It is observed, that their sin had been of long continuance, though the Lord had been kind and good unto them, in chastising them in love, giving them good laws, sending his prophets to exhort them to repentance and reformation, but all in vain, Ho 10:9-13; wherefore they are threatened with the spoiling of their fortresses, the destruction of the people, and the cutting off of their king, Ho 10:14,15.

Cross References

• 1. [ver. 7, 15; 1 Samuel 12:12]
• 2. [Hosea 4:2]
• 3. Amos 5:7; Amos 6:12
• 4. Hosea 12:11
• 5. See 1 Kings 12:28
• 6. See Hosea 4:15
• 7. Hosea 9:11; [1 Samuel 4:21, 22]
• 8. [Isaiah 46:2]
• 9. Hosea 5:13
• 10. Hosea 11:6
• 11. [ver. 3]
• 12. [See ver. 5 above]
• 13. 1 Kings 12:30; Amos 8:14
• 14. [Hosea 9:6]
• 15. Luke 23:30; Revelation 6:16; [Isaiah 2:19]
• 16. Hosea 9:9
• 17. [Exodus 32:34]
• 18. Hosea 7:12
• 19. [1 Kings 12:28]
• 20. [Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9; 1 Timothy 5:18]
• 21. See Hosea 6:4
• 22. See Hosea 6:4
• 23. [Hosea 8:7; Galatians 6:8]
• 24. Jeremiah 4:3
• 25. Isaiah 45:8

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew He
• [b]. Or calves
• [c]. Or has gone into exile
• [d]. Or to King Jareb
• [e]. Or counsel
• [f]. Hebrew the children of injustice