Hosea 1:5
in Hosea 1And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
KJV
And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
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This verse in Hosea 1
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel - The valley of Jezreel is a beautiful and a broad valley or plain, stretching, from West to East, from Mount Carmel and the sea to the Jordan, which it reaches through two arms, between the Mountains of Gilboa, little Hermon, and Tabor; and from South to North from the Mountains of Ephraim to those of Galilee. Nazareth lay on its northern side. It is called “the great plain” (1 Macc. 12:49), “the great plain of Esdraelon” (Judith 1:8).
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 in that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel." LXX likewise. When I avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will destroy the kingdom of Israel, with the Assyrians prevailing, then in that day, and at that time, I will break all the power of the army of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And it shall come to pass at that day,.... When the Lord shall take vengeance on the family of Jehu, and deprive them of the kingdom of Israel, and shall punish the idolatrous kings that succeed: that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel; of which valley see Jos 17:
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
In the valley of Jezreel - This also is supposed to relate either to some signal defeat of the Israelites by the Assyrians, which took place in the valley of Jezreel; or to the death of Zechariah, the fourth lineal descendant of Jehu, which may have happened here. See 2Ki 15:10. - Newcome.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָיָ֖ה | vehayah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| בַּיּ֣וֹם | baiyom | on the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַה֑וּא | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְשָֽׁבַרְתִּי֙ | veshavarti | and I will break | H7665 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| קֶ֣שֶׁת | keshet | [the] bow of | H7198 → | 76 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| בְּעֵ֖מֶק | beemek | in [the] valley of | H6010 → | |
| יִזְרְעֶֽאל׃ | yizreel | Jezreel | H3157 → | 36 times |
וְהָיָ֖הand it will be
vehayahH1961 →3559 times
בַּיּ֣וֹםon the day
baiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַה֑וּא<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
וְשָֽׁבַרְתִּי֙and I will break
veshavartiH7665 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
קֶ֣שֶׁת[the] bow of
keshetH7198 →76 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
בְּעֵ֖מֶקin [the] valley of
beemekH6010 →
יִזְרְעֶֽאל׃Jezreel
yizreelH3157 →36 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
Psalms 46:9He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire.
it leads to
- Isaiah 2:4
Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against…
- Micah 4:3–4
Then He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take…
- Micah 5:10
“In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will remove your horses from among you and wreck your chariots.
- Joshua 11:9
Joshua treated them as the LORD had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned up their chariots.
- Isaiah 60:18
No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders. But you will name your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
- Isaiah 2:4
Through
Psalms 37:15But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.
it leads to
- Psalms 7:14–15
Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
- Psalms 7:14–15
Through
Jeremiah 51:56For a destroyer is coming against her—against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken, for the LORD is a God of retribution; He will repay in full.
it leads to
- Psalms 46:9
He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 46:9
Through
Judges 6:33Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
it leads to
- Joshua 17:16
“The hill country is not enough for us,” they replied, “and all the Canaanites who live in the valley have iron chariots, both in Beth-shean with its towns and in the Valley of Jezreel.”
- Joshua 17:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this chapter
About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 1:5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.