Idolatry and Its Consequences
Hosea 8:1-14
Hos.8.1 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אל: NEG
- חכך: NOUN,prop,m,sg
- שפר: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- כנשר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- על: PREP
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- יען: CONJ
- עברו: VERB,qal,imp,2,pl
- בריתי: NOUN,f,sg,abs,poss1,sg
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- תורתי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,1,sg
- פשעו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:49 (verbal): Judgment imagery of an invading force 'as swift as the eagle' echoes Hosea's depiction of an eagle coming against the house of the LORD.
- Psalm 78:10 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language about failing to keep God's covenant and refusing to walk in his law, paralleling Hosea's charge that they transgressed the covenant and trespassed the law.
- Joel 2:1 (structural): Both open with a trumpet summons ('Blow the trumpet in Zion' / 'Set the trumpet to thy mouth'), a prophetic call that signals imminent judgment.
- Hosea 6:7 (verbal): Within the same book; explicitly accuses Israel of transgressing the covenant and dealing treacherously—directly parallel in theme and wording to 8:1.
Alternative generated candidates
- Set the trumpet to your mouth! Like an eagle he will come against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and broken my law.
- Sound the trumpet—cry like an eagle over the house of the LORD; for they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.
Hos.8.2 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- יזעקו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- אלהי: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- ידענוך: VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 29:13 (thematic): Denounces worship that is only lip service: people 'honor me with their lips' while their hearts are far from God—parallels Israel's professed knowledge/cry to God without true faithfulness.
- Hosea 6:6 (thematic): In the same prophetic context God values 'knowledge of God' and steadfast mercy over ritual—contrasts genuine knowing of God with empty professions.
- Amos 5:21-24 (thematic): God rejects formal worship and festivals when unaccompanied by justice and righteousness, echoing the rebuke of Israel's hollow claims to God.
- Psalm 50:16-17 (50:16-23 LXX) (verbal): God confronts those who invoke him while living wickedly—similar language and rebuke to those who 'call' on God yet are not truly known by him.
- Matthew 7:21-23 (allusion): Jesus' warning that not everyone who calls him 'Lord' is accepted mirrors the prophetic theme: verbal profession of God does not equal genuine relationship.
Alternative generated candidates
- They will cry to me, “My God!” — “I know you, O Israel.”
- They will cry to me, ‘My God!’—I know you, O Israel.
Hos.8.3 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- זנח: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- טוב: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- אויב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ירדפו: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:25 (structural): Part of the covenant curses: disobedience brings defeat and flight before enemies—parallels Hosea's link between abandoning good and being pursued by foes.
- Isaiah 5:20 (thematic): Denounces a reversal of moral order—calling evil good—resonates with Israel's rejection of what is right in Hosea 8:3.
- Hosea 4:6 (structural): Within Hosea the people are said to be 'destroyed for lack of knowledge'; explains the root apostasy (rejecting good) and the resulting divine judgment.
- Jeremiah 2:13 (thematic): Israel's forsaking of 'the fountain of living waters' for broken cisterns depicts the same apostasy—abandoning the good source (YHWH) and inviting disaster.
- Amos 5:14-15 (thematic): A prophetic exhortation to 'seek good, and not evil, that you may live'—the converse of Hosea's diagnosis that rejecting good brings punitive consequences.
Alternative generated candidates
- Israel has cast off what is good; an enemy will pursue him.
- Israel has forsaken what is good; foes will pursue him.
Hos.8.4 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הם: PRON,personal,3,m,pl
- המליכו: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,pl
- ולא: CONJ
- ממני: PREP,suff,1,m,sg
- השירו: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,pl
- ולא: CONJ
- ידעתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,?,sg
- כספם: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3mp
- וזהבם: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs+3mp
- עשו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- להם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- עצבים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- למען: PREP
- יכרת: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 17:15 (allusion): Law prescribes that a king must be set up under the LORD’s authority; Hosea’s complaint that they ‘set up kings… not by me’ echoes this requirement and indicts rulers not ordained by God.
- 1 Samuel 8:7-8 (thematic): Israel’s demand for a human king and Samuel’s warning that they have rejected YHWH as king parallels Hosea’s charge that the people installed rulers apart from God’s sanction.
- Exodus 32:2-4 (verbal): The making of the golden calf from people’s jewelry closely parallels Hosea’s line that ‘from their silver and their gold they made for themselves idols,’ linking royal/idolatrous self-fashioning to the sin of Exodus.
- Isaiah 44:9-20 (thematic): Isaiah’s denunciation of idol-makers who fashion gods from silver and gold and thereby demonstrate folly resonates with Hosea’s condemnation of self-made idols leading to devastation.
Alternative generated candidates
- They made kings, but not by me; they appointed princes, and I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made themselves idols— that they might be cut off.
- They have set up kings—not by me; they have appointed princes, of whom I knew nothing. With their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, that they might be cut off.
Hos.8.5 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- זנח: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- עגלך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
- שמרון: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- חרה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אפי: NOUN,m,sg,poss1s
- בם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- עד: PREP
- מתי: ADV,int
- לא: PART_NEG
- יוכלו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- נקין: ADJ,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Exodus 32:4–8 (allusion): The golden‑calf episode: Israel makes a calf, invoking YHWH’s anger—parallels Hosea’s ‘your calf… Samaria’ and the motif of God’s fury against idolatry.
- 1 Kings 12:28–30 (thematic): Jeroboam sets up two calves in Dan and Bethel (for Israel/Samaria), echoing Hosea’s reference to a Samarian calf and the political/religious idolatry of the northern kingdom.
- Psalm 106:19–23 (verbal): The psalm recounts the making of a calf at Horeb and God’s wrath against Israel for that idolatry—language and theme closely mirror Hosea’s condemnatory reference to the calf and divine anger.
- Deuteronomy 9:16–17 (thematic): Moses recounts Israel’s making of a molten image and God’s anger; parallels include the motif of a crafted calf, divine rejection, and the people’s impurity/culpability.
Alternative generated candidates
- Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; my anger burns against them—how long will they be unable to be cleansed?
- Cast off your calf, O Samaria! My wrath burns against them—how long will they remain unclean?
Hos.8.6 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- מישראל: PREP+NOUN,prop,m,sg
- והוא: CONJ+PRON,3,m,sg
- חרש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עשהו: VERB,qal,ptc,ms,sg+3,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- שבבים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יהיה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עגל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שמרון: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- 1 Kings 12:28-30 (allusion): Jeroboam's making of golden calves at Bethel and Dan—direct historical parallel to the 'calf of Samaria' and worship at Bethel referenced in Hosea.
- Exodus 32:1-6 (thematic): The Sinai golden calf episode: Israel fashions a calf and worships it, establishing the archetype of communal idolatry that Hosea condemns.
- Isaiah 44:9-20 (verbal): Extended polemic against craftsmen who fashion idols and worship their own making; language and argument closely parallel Hosea's point that the idol is made by a smith and is not God.
- Psalm 115:4-8 (verbal): Contrast between lifeless idols made by human hands and the living God—‘those who make them are like them’—echoes Hosea's claim that the object is made by a craftsman and is not God.
Alternative generated candidates
- For he is from Israel; a craftsman made him—he is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be a thing of shards.
- For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it—it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall become mere scrap.
Hos.8.7 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- רוח: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יזרעו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- וסופתה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,poss3fs
- יקצרו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- קמה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- אין: PART,neg
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- צמח: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- בלי: PREP
- יעשה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- קמח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אולי: ADV
- יעשה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- זרים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יבלעהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg,pr3ms
Parallels
- Job 4:8 (verbal): Uses the sow/reap idiom about doing evil and suffering the consequences—'those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same,' echoing Hosea's agricultural moral warning.
- Proverbs 22:8 (verbal): States the same principle in proverb form—'He who sows iniquity will reap calamity'—paralleling Hosea's cause-and-effect imagery of futile sowing and disastrous harvest.
- Hosea 10:13 (verbal): Within the same prophetic collection, it repeats the theme: Israel 'plowed wickedness and reaped iniquity' and 'ate the fruit of lies,' closely paralleling Hosea 8:7's failed/fruitless sowing motif.
- Galatians 6:7 (verbal): New Testament echo of the sowing-and-reaping principle—'whatever one sows, that will he also reap'—reflecting the moral causality expressed in Hosea 8:7.
- Jeremiah 12:13 (thematic): Portrays agricultural failure as judgment—'they have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns'—thematising futile sowing and disastrous harvest like Hosea's image of no crop to eat and strangers devouring it.
Alternative generated candidates
- For they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. There is no stalk, no head of grain; though it yield bread, strangers will devour it.
- For they sow the wind and shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing crop—though it should grow, strangers will swallow it up.
Hos.8.8 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- נבלע: VERB,niphal,perf,3,m,sg
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עתה: ADV
- היו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- בגוים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ככלי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אין: PART,neg
- חפץ: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:37 (thematic): The curse that Israel will become a byword and horror among the nations echoes Hosea’s depiction of Israel ‘among the peoples’ and despised.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (thematic): God’s warning that he will scatter Israel among all nations parallels Hosea’s image of Israel swallowed up and living among the Gentiles.
- Psalm 44:11-12 (verbal): Speaks of God giving the people up to be devoured and scattering them among the nations—language closely matching ‘swallowed up’ and ‘among the peoples’ in Hosea 8:8.
- Amos 9:9 (thematic): God’s action of sifting/scattering Israel ‘among all nations’ uses scattering imagery similar to Hosea’s portrayal of Israel dispersed and treated as worthless.
- Lamentations 5:2 (thematic): Lament’s language that the people were sold for nothing and became an object of scorn parallels Hosea’s phrase likening Israel to a vessel in which there is no delight.
Alternative generated candidates
- Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the nations like a vessel in which there is no delight.
- Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the nations like a vessel that no one desires.
Hos.8.9 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- המה: PRON,3,m,pl
- עלו: PREP+3ms_suff
- אשור: NOUN,prop,m,sg
- פרא: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בודד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- אפרים: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- התנו: VERB,hitp,perf,3,pl
- אהבים: VERB,qal,ptcp,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Hosea 7:11 (verbal): Echoes the same reproach: Ephraim is compared to a fool/naïve creature and charged with turning to Egypt and Assyria and 'hiring lovers'—the same language of foreign alliances and illicit attachments found in Hos 8:9.
- 2 Kings 17:4-6 (structural): Historical narrative of Israel's outreach to Egypt/foreign powers and the ensuing Assyrian conquest of Samaria—provides the historical background and concrete outcome behind Hosea's critique of Ephraim's reliance on Assyria.
- Ezekiel 23:11-12 (thematic): Uses explicit prostitution imagery of giving gifts and lusting after Assyria/Egypt; parallels Hosea's motif of spiritual adultery and the phrase about giving gifts to 'lovers' (foreign powers).
- Isaiah 30:1-3 (thematic): Condemns seeking alliance with Egypt rather than trusting Yahweh—thematically parallel to Hosea's denunciation of Ephraim's foreign alliances (with Assyria/Egypt) as unfaithfulness.
Alternative generated candidates
- For they have gone up to Assyria—a solitary wild donkey; Ephraim has made lovers for himself.
- For they went up to Assyria—like a wild ass alone among the herds; Ephraim has sought lovers.
Hos.8.10 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- גם: ADV
- כי: CONJ
- יתנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,pl
- בגוים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- עתה: ADV
- אקבצם: VERB,qal,impf,1,,sg
- ויחלו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- מעט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ממשא: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מלך: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- שרים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (thematic): Speaks of the LORD scattering Israel among the nations as a consequence of disobedience — parallels Hosea’s image of being given among the nations.
- Deuteronomy 30:3–4 (thematic): Promises that God will gather Israel from the nations and bring them back to their land, echoing Hosea’s motif of divine gathering after dispersion.
- Ezekiel 36:24 (verbal): Uses the language of God ‘gathering’ Israel from the nations — a close verbal and theological parallel to Hosea’s statement of gathering those given among the peoples.
- Isaiah 11:12 (thematic): Foretells assembling the dispersed of Judah and Israel from the nations and remotest parts of the earth, reflecting the same hope/act of regathering found in Hosea.
- 2 Kings 17:3–6 (structural): Narrates Israel’s subjection to foreign rule (vassalage and tribute) and eventual exile to Assyria — parallels Hosea’s reference to payment/burden to foreign princes and the resulting calamity.
Alternative generated candidates
- Even if they give among the nations, now I will gather them; they will begin to be few because of the burden from a king and his princes.
- Though they give gifts among the nations, now I will gather them; they will become sick from the levy of the king of princes.
Hos.8.11 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- הרבה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אפרים: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מזבחת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לחטא: VERB,qal,inf
- היו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- מזבחות: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לחטא: VERB,qal,inf
Parallels
- Hos.4:13-14 (verbal): Same prophet condemns sacrifices on high places and links priestly altars with sexual/idolatrous sin—echoes Hosea 8:11’s charge that Ephraim’s many altars are for sin.
- 1 Kgs 12:26-31 (structural): Jeroboam establishes shrines/altars (Bethel and Dan) in the northern kingdom to secure Ephraim/Israel’s worship apart from Jerusalem—an institutional example of proliferating altars that lead Israel into sin.
- 2 Kgs 17:16,32-33 (thematic): Describes Israel’s erection of high places, pillars and foreign cults alongside Yahweh-worship—illustrates the widespread, syncretistic altars and idolatry that Hosea denounces.
- Deut.12:29-32 (allusion): The law’s warning not to imitate the nations by setting up altars and sacred sites provides the covenantal background to Hosea’s rebuke of Israel’s numerous altars as sinful.
Alternative generated candidates
- For Ephraim has multiplied altars to sin; altars have become to him altars of sin.
- For Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin; altars have become for him altars of sin.
Hos.8.12 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אכתב: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- רבי: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תורתי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,1,sg
- כמו: PREP
- זר: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- נחשבו: VERB,niphal,perf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Jeremiah 6:16 (thematic): Calls people to ‘stand in the old ways’ but they refuse — parallels Israel’s rejection of God’s prescribed way as strange or unacceptable.
- Psalm 78:10 (verbal): ‘They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law’ — closely parallels Hosea’s note that God’s law was written yet treated as alien and rejected.
- Ezekiel 20:13 (thematic): God recounts giving statutes and ordinances which the people profaned — echoes the theme of divine law being given but despised.
- Jeremiah 8:9 (verbal): ‘The wise men are put to shame; they have despised the word of the LORD’ — similar language and idea of God’s word/law being scorned as if foreign.
Alternative generated candidates
- I wrote for them many precepts of my law, but they regarded them as something foreign.
- I wrote for them many of my statutes, but they were regarded as something alien.
Hos.8.13 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- זבחי: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- הבהבי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- יזבחו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- בשר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ויאכלו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- רצם: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- עתה: ADV
- יזכר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עונם: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
- ויפקד: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- חטאותם: NOUN,f,pl,abs,3,m,pl
- המה: PRON,3,m,pl
- מצרים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ישובו: VERB,qal,imperf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Isaiah 1:11-15 (thematic): Isaiah condemns empty offerings and declares that the LORD refuses incense and sacrifices when the people are wicked—paralleling Hosea’s theme that sacrifices will not be accepted because of their sin.
- Amos 5:21-24 (thematic): Amos pronounces God’s rejection of Israel’s festivals and sacrifices and emphasizes that true justice and righteousness, not ritual, are required—echoing Hosea’s critique of sacrificial religion divorced from covenant faithfulness.
- Hosea 9:3 (structural): Within Hosea the consequence is reiterated: Ephraim (Israel) will not remain in the land and will ‘return to Egypt,’ directly paralleling Hosea 8:13’s judgment formula and outcome.
- Deuteronomy 28:68 (allusion): As part of the covenant curses, Deuteronomy warns that the LORD will bring the people back to Egypt in ships—Hosea’s ‘they shall return to Egypt’ echoes this covenantal curse motif as judgment for disobedience.
- Psalm 50:8-13 (verbal): God speaks against mindless sacrificial offerings—asking rhetorically whether he eats the flesh of bulls—and calls for thanksgiving and obedience instead, similar to Hosea’s point that sacrifices are unacceptable when covenantal sin remains unaddressed.
Alternative generated candidates
- They slaughter sacrifices and eat the flesh; the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins— they shall return to Egypt.
- Those who sacrifice for their joy—those who sacrifice flesh and then eat it—the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their guilt and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
Hos.8.14 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וישכח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- עשהו: VERB,qal,ptc,ms,sg+3,m,sg
- ויבן: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- היכלות: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ויהודה: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הרבה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ערים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- בצרות: ADJ,ptc,pass,f,pl
- ושלחתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,c,sg
- אש: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בעריו: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- ואכלה: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,sg
- ארמנתיה: NOUN,f,pl,suff
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 32:18 (verbal): Both texts accuse Israel of forgetting the one who made or sustained them (Hosea's 'forgot his Maker' echoes Deut 32:18's 'you forgot the Rock that begot you'), linking apostasy to ingratitude toward the divine source.
- 2 Kings 17:9-11 (thematic): Describes Israel's apostasy—forsaking Yahweh, setting up high places and sacred stones—paralleling Hosea's charge that Israel 'built temples' and turned from its Maker, leading to judgment.
- Jeremiah 2:11-13 (thematic): Jeremiah condemns Israel for abandoning the true fountain of living water and fashioning broken cisterns for themselves; thematically parallels Hosea's contrast between forgetting God and creating human religious/political structures.
- Jeremiah 17:27 (verbal): Promises divine fire kindled in the city gates that will 'devour the palaces'—language and imagery closely parallel Hosea's declaration to send fire on the cities to consume their 'aromot/armontei' (palaces/strongholds).
Alternative generated candidates
- Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has multiplied fortified cities. I will send fire upon his cities, and it will consume their strongholds.
- Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has multiplied fortified cities. I will send fire into his cities, and it will devour their strongholds.
Set the trumpet to your mouth; he shall come like an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.
They cry to me, 'My God!'— 'I know you, O Israel.'
Israel has abandoned what is good; an enemy will pursue him.
They have set up kings — not through me; they have appointed princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, that they might be cut off.
The calf of Samaria is rejected; my anger burns against them—how long will they be unable to be cleansed?
For it is from Israel, and the craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken into shavings.
For they sow the wind and shall reap the whirlwind; there is no stalk, no standing grain — the kernel will not yield bread; if it should yield, strangers will swallow it up.
Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the nations like a vessel that none desires.
For they have gone up to Assyria — like a wild donkey, solitary; Ephraim has hired lovers.
Even if they give themselves to the nations, now I will gather them; they shall grow faint because of the burden of the king of princes.
For Ephraim has multiplied altars to sin; altars have been to him for sin.
I wrote for them the great things of my law, but they were regarded as something strange.
They offer sacrifices of their delight and eat the meat, yet the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
Israel has forgotten their Maker and built palaces; Judah has multiplied fortified cities. I will send fire into his cities, and it shall consume their strongholds.