Hosea 1:4
in Hosea 1Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel, for soon I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
KJV
And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
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This verse in Hosea 1
Commentary
8 notes on this verseCall his name Jezreel - יזרעאל that is, God will disperse. This seems to intimate that a dispersion or sowing of Israel shall take place; which happened under Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 2Ki 17:5, 2Ki 17:6. But the word refers also to the name of a city, where Jehu slew Jezebel and all the children of Ahab. 2Ki 9:10, 2Ki 9:36; 2Ki 10:
This site's exposition
Call his name Jezreel
on Hosea 1:4-5
The child's name reaches back to Jehu's bloodbath at Jezreel, the very massacre by which Jehu had carried out the Lord's own sentence on the house of Ahab in 2 Kings 9 and 10, now itself brought to account. The commentators read the charge as falling not on the act of judgment but on Jehu's excess and his self-serving cruelty in carrying it out, a distinction Hosea's contemporaries would have felt keenly since Jehu's own dynasty still sat on Israel's throne. The bow of Israel broken in the valley of Jezreel names the coming military collapse, fulfilled within the generation when Assyria ended the northern kingdom.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"And he went and took Gomer the daughter of Debelaim: and she conceived and bare him a son. And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel." LXX: "And he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
But how comes the same action to be both rewarded and punished? Very justly; the matter of it was good; it was the execution of a righteous sentence passed upon the house of Ahab, and, as such, it was rewarded; but Jehu did it not in a right manner; he aimed at his own advancement, not at the glory of God, and mingled his own resentments with the execution of God's justice.
And the Lord said unto him call his name Jezreel,....
He must speak comfortable to the kingdom of Judah, which still retained the pure worship of God, and assure them of the salvation of the Lord,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Jezreel--that is, "God will scatter" (compare Zec 10:9). It was the royal city of Ahab and his successors, in the tribe of Issachar. Here Jehu exercised his greatest cruelties (2Ki 9:16, 25, 33;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Call his name Jezreel - that is, in its first sense here, “God will scatter.” The life of the prophet, and his union with one so unworthy of him, were a continued prophecy of God’s mercy. The names of the children were a life-long admonition of His intervening judgments. Since Israel refused to hear God’s words, He made the prophet’s sons, through the mere fact of their presence among them, their going out and coming in, and the names which He gave them, to be preachers to the people. He depicted in them and in their names what was to be, in order that, whenever they saw or heard of them, His warnings might be forced upon them, and those who would take warning, might be saved. If, with their mother’s disgrace, these sons inherited and copied their mother’s sins, then their names became even more expressive, that, being such as they were, they would be scattered by God, would not be owned by God as His people, or be pitied by Him. I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu - Yet Jehu shed this blood, the blood of the house of Ahab, of Joram and Jezebel and the seventy sons of Ahab, at God’s command and in fulfillment of His will. How was it then sin? Because, if we do what is the will of God for any end of our own, for anything except God, we do, in fact, our own will, not God’s. It was not lawful for Jehu to depose and slay the king his master, except at the command of God, who, as the Supreme King, sets up and puts down earthly rulers as He wills. For any other end, and done otherwise than at God’s express command, such an act is sin. Jehu was rewarded for the measure in which he fulfilled God’s commands, as Ahab who had “sold himself to work wickedness,” had yet a temporal reward for humbling himself publicly, when rebuked by God for his sin, and so honoring God, amid an apostate people. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Name him Jezreel Jonathan renders: Call their name the scattered ones. I.e. prophesy over them that they will be exiled, and they will be sown among the peoples.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
20 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֵלָ֔יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| קְרָ֥א | kera' | call | H7121 → | 733 times |
| שְׁמ֖וֹ | shemo | name his | H8034 → | 864 times |
| יִזְרְעֶ֑אל | yizreel | Jezreel | H3157 → | 36 times |
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| ע֣וֹד | od | yet | H5750 → | 490 times |
| מְעַ֗ט | meat | a little | H4592 → | |
| וּפָ֨קַדְתִּ֜י | ufakadti | and I will visit | H6485 → | 303 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| דְּמֵ֤י | demei | [the] blood<s> of | H1818 → | 360 times |
| יִזְרְעֶאל֙ | yizreel | Jezreel | H3157 → | 36 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יֵה֔וּא | yehu' | Jehu | H3058 → | |
| וְהִ֨שְׁבַּתִּ֔י | vehishbati | and I will put an end to | H7673 → | 71 times |
| מַמְלְכ֖וּת | mamlekhut | [the] kingdom of | H4468 → | |
| בֵּ֥ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֵלָ֔יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
קְרָ֥אcall
kera'H7121 →733 times
שְׁמ֖וֹname his
shemoH8034 →864 times
יִזְרְעֶ֑אלJezreel
yizreelH3157 →36 times
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
ע֣וֹדyet
odH5750 →490 times
מְעַ֗טa little
meatH4592 →
וּפָ֨קַדְתִּ֜יand I will visit
ufakadtiH6485 →303 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
דְּמֵ֤י[the] blood<s> of
demeiH1818 →360 times
יִזְרְעֶאל֙Jezreel
yizreelH3157 →36 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יֵה֔וּאJehu
yehu'H3058 →
וְהִ֨שְׁבַּתִּ֔יand I will put an end to
vehishbatiH7673 →71 times
מַמְלְכ֖וּת[the] kingdom of
mamlekhutH4468 →
בֵּ֥ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 3:8She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 24:1
If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her…
- Hosea 2:2–3
Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
- Isaiah 50:1
This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for…
- 2 Kings 18:9–11
In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it.
- Hosea 4:15–17
Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
- Deuteronomy 24:1
Through
Ezekiel 23:10They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.
it leads to
- Hosea 2:10
And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.
- Ezekiel 23:29
They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity
- Hosea 2:3
Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her…
- Hosea 2:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this chapter
About Hosea
Who and where
3 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonDivided kingdomHoseaCommanded to marry Gomer and to buy her back after her unfaithfulness — the prophet whose broken marriage preached Jehovah's coven…
- PersonDivided kingdomJehuThe furious-driving commander anointed at Elisha's order who purged the house of Ahab and Baal from Israel — zealous for the LORD,…
- PlaceNorthern IsraelJezreelAhab's summer capital beside Naboth's vineyard; the city of the dogs' prophecy, where Jezebel fell and Jehu's wheels rolled.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 1:3-4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.