Hosea 12:11

11 Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Their altars will be like piles of stones on a plowed field.

Hosea 12:11 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
English Standard Version (ESV)
11 If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing: in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; their altars also are like stone heaps on the furrows of the field.
New Living Translation (NLT)
11 But the people of Gilead are worthless because of their idol worship. And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls; their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone along the edges of a plowed field.
The Message Bible (MSG)
11 I show Gilead rampant with religious scandal and Gilgal teeming with empty-headed religion. I expose their worship centers as stinking piles of garbage in their gardens."
American Standard Version (ASV)
11 Is Gilead iniquity? they are altogether false; in Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
11 The people of Gilead are evil. They are worthless. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal. But their altars will become like piles of rubble beside a plowed field.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
11 Since Gilead is full of evil, they will certainly come to nothing. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; even their altars will be like heaps of rocks on the furrows of a field.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
11 The people of Gilead are evil! They aren't worth anything! Gilgal's people sacrifice bulls to other gods. Their altars will become like piles of stones on a plowed field.

Hosea 12:11 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 12:11

[Is there] iniquity [in] Gilead?
&c.] Idolatry there? strange that there should be, seeing it was a city of the priests; a city of refuge; or there is none there, say the priests, who pretended they did not worship idols, but the true Jehovah in them: or, "is [there] not iniquity", or idolatry, "in Gilead" F5? verily there is, let them pretend to what they will: or, "is [there only] iniquity in it" F6? that the men of it should be carried captive, as they were by TiglathPileser, before the rest of the tribes; see ( 2 Kings 15:29 ) ; no, there is iniquity and idolatry committed in other places, as well as there, who must expect to share the same fate in time: or, "is Gilead Aven?" F7 that is, Bethaven, the same with Bethel; it is as that, as guilty of idolatry as Bethel, where one of the calves was set up: surely they are vanity:
the inhabitants of Gilead, as well as of Bethel, worshipping idols, which are most vain things, vanity itself, and deceive those that serve them, and trust in them: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal:
to idols, as the Targum adds; and so Jarchi and Kimchi; according to Aben Ezra, they sacrificed them to Baal; this shows that Gilead was not the only place for idolatry, which was on the other side Jordan, but Gilgal, which was on this side Jordan, was also polluted with it. The Vulgate Latin version is,

``in Gilgal they were sacrificing to bullocks;''
to the calves there, the same as were at Dan and Bethel; so, in the Septuagint version of ( 1 Kings 12:29 ) ; it was formerly read: and so Cyril
FOOTNOTES:

F8 quotes it, "[he] (Jeroboam) set the one (calf) in Gilgal, and the other [in] Dan"; hence the fable that Epiphanius F9 makes mention of, that, when Elisha was born, the golden ox or heifer at Gilgal bellowed very loudly, and so loud as to be heard at Jerusalem. The Targum makes mention of an idol temple here; and as it was near to Bethel, as appears from ( 1 Samuel 10:3 1 Samuel 10:8 ) ; and from Josephus F11; and so Jerom says F12, hard by Bethel; some suspect another Gilgal; hence it might be put for it; however, it was a place of like idolatrous worship; it is mentioned as such along with Bethaven or Bethel, in ( Hosea 4:15 ) ; see also ( Hosea 9:15 ) ; yea, their altars [are] as heaps in, the furrows of the fields;
not only in the city of Gilgal, and in the temple there, as the Targum; but even without the city, in the fields they set up altars, which looked like heaps of stones; or they had a multitude of altars that stood as thick as they. So the Targum,
``they have multiplied their altars, like heaps upon the borders of the fields;''
and the Jewish commentators in general understand this as expressive of the number of their altars, and of the increase of idolatrous worship; but some interpret it of the destruction of their altars, which should become heaps of stones and rubbish, like such as are in fields. These words respect Ephraim or the ten tribes, in which these places were, whose idolatry is again taken notice of, after gracious promises were made to Judah. Some begin here a new sermon or discourse delivered to Israel.
F5 (Nwa delg Ma) "an [non in] Galaad iniquitas?" Vatablus.
F6 "En [in] Gileade [tantum] iniquitas?" Piscator.
F7 "Num Gilead Aven?" Schmidt.
F8 Apud Reland. Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. l. 3. p. 783.
F9 De Vita & Interitu Prophet. c. 6. & Paschal. Chronic. p. 161. apud Reland. ib.
F11 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 4. sect. 9.
F12 De locis Hebr. fol. 91. M.

Hosea 12:11 In-Context

9 “I have been the LORD your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals.
10 I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them.”
11 Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Their altars will be like piles of stones on a plowed field.
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram ; Israel served to get a wife, and to pay for her he tended sheep.
13 The LORD used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet he cared for him.

Cross References 3

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