Hosea 11:3
in Hosea 11It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yet I taught Ephraim to walk; I took them on my arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
KJV
I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
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This verse in Hosea 11
Commentary
10 notes on this verse"And I, as a foster father to Ephraim, carried them in my arms, and they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with cords of Adam, with the bonds of love. And I will be to them like one who lifts the yoke from their cheeks, and I inclined to him so he could eat." LXX: "And I gathered" ((or "placed")) Ephraim, I took him up on my arm; and they did not know that I healed them in the corruption of humans. I drew them with the cords of my love.
This site's exposition
they sacrificed unto Baalim
on Hosea 11:2-4
As they called them, so they went from them: the more the Lord called through Moses and the prophets, the further Israel walked into Baal worship, love answered with idolatry through the whole span of the nation's history. Verses 3-4 turn tender, the Lord as the parent who taught Ephraim to walk, took him by the arms, and healed him without his even knowing whose hand it was, drawing him with cords of a man and bands of love, the gentlest possible language for covenant discipline, lifting the yoke off the jaws and laying meat before him like a father feeding a child rather than a farmer driving an ox.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Because I am kind and good, I bound the feet of Ephraim," that is, the whole Israel … although he was awkward. God himself declares why this is so: "I will take them in my arms." This image is from child raising. Those who take infants in their arms are those who bind their feet, bringing their feet together. For it is necessary, I think, that the thighs and knees of anyone who sits down should be drawn together. And in fact this is so. "I bound the feet" as, for instance, it was written about Abraham, who bound his son Isaac when he thought to bring him as a sacrifice to God. One must note that the Hebrew version and other versions do not have "I bound the feet" but rather "I became as one who nourishes Ephraim."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
I taught Ephraim also to go,.... All the tribes of Israel and Ephraim, or the ten tribes with the rest; these the Lord instructed in the way of his commandments, and taught them to walk therein; he his angel before them, to conduct them through the wilderness; yea, he himself went before them in the pillar of cloud by day, and in the pillar of fire by night, to which history this seems to refer.
God's spiritual Israel are thus supported. Thou has holden me by my right hand, Ps. lxxiii. When any thing was amiss with them, or they were ever so little out of order, he was their physician: " I healed them;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I taught Ephraim also to go - Literally, “and I set Ephraim on his feet;” i. e., while they were rebelling, I was helping and supporting them, as a nurse doth her child, teaching it to go with little steps, step by step, “accustoming it to go by little and little without weariness;” and not only so, but “taking them by their arms;” or it may be equally translated, “He took them in His arms,” i. e., God not only gently “taught” them “to walk,” but when they were wearied, “He took them up in His arms,” as a nurse doth a child when tired with its little attempts to walk.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Ac 13:18, which probably refers to this passage of Hosea; He took them by the arms, to guide them that they might not stray, and to hold them up that they might not stumble. knew not that I healed them--that is, that My design was to restore them spiritually and temporally (Ex 15:26).
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
IF you note well the opening part of this chapter, you will find that it consists of a wonderful chain of mercies; every one single line is a rare jewel, and the whole passage is a casket unspeakably precious. The chapter begins with love; ancient, sovereign, electing love. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him.” When the Israelitish nation was in a very low and poor estate, and was brought into slavery and subjection in Egypt, God had set his love upon it, and called it his own inheritance. Not for their numbers or greatness as a nation were they chosen, but when they were little and despised they were yet beloved of God. Distinguishing grace had written the name of Israel upon Jehovah’s heart. Spiritually we who have believed are in the same favored condition, and our hearts rejoice this day at the memory of “His great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.” This is the river-head, from which all the streams of after-mercy flow,—“I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Like the golden-sanded river which had its rise in Eden, electing love branches off into many streams, and waters all the garden of the Lord. This is the root from which the tree of blessing springs. “He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” Ephesians 1:3, 4. Let others say what they will, electing love will always be most precious to us; for it is the foundation blessing, the first of all favors, the mother of mercies.
IF you note well the opening part of this chapter, you will find that it consists of a wonderful chain of mercies; every one single line is a rare jewel, and the whole passage is a casket unspeakably precious. The chapter begins with love; ancient, sovereign, electing love. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him.” When the Israelitish nation was in a very low and poor estate, and was brought into slavery and subjection in Egypt, God had set his love upon it, and called it his own inheritance.
I taught Ephraim also to go - An allusion to a mother or nurse teaching a child to walk, directing it how to lift and lay its feet, and supporting it in the meantime by the arms, that it may use its feet with the greater ease. This is a passage truly pathetic.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
But I sent to train Ephraim, he took them etc. I sent a leader before them who would train them gently.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The more they called to them, the more they went away from them As much as the prophets call to teach them the good way, so did they turn their backs to run away from them.
with cords of a man I constantly drew them with tender cords with which a man draws his son; i.e., drawing mercifully. Jonathan, too, rendered it in this manner.
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. 3 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
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאָנֹכִ֤י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | 359 times |
| תִרְגַּ֙לְתִּי֙ | tirgalti | I taught to walk | H8637 → | |
| לְאֶפְרַ֔יִם | leefrayim | <to> Ephraim | H669 → | 180 times |
| קָחָ֖ם | kacham | he took them | H3947 → | 966 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| זְרֽוֹעֹתָ֑יו | zerootav | arms his | H2220 → | |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָדְע֖וּ | yadeu | they knew | H3045 → | 945 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| רְפָאתִֽים׃ | refatim | I had healed them | H7495 → | 67 times |
וְאָנֹכִ֤יand I
veanokhiH595 →359 times
תִרְגַּ֙לְתִּי֙I taught to walk
tirgaltiH8637 →
לְאֶפְרַ֔יִם<to> Ephraim
leefrayimH669 →180 times
קָחָ֖םhe took them
kachamH3947 →966 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
זְרֽוֹעֹתָ֑יוarms his
zerootavH2220 →
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יָדְע֖וּthey knew
yadeuH3045 →945 times
כִּ֥יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
רְפָאתִֽים׃I had healed them
refatimH7495 →67 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
Exodus 15:26saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then…
it leads to
- Psalms 103:3
He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 7:15
And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.
- Exodus 23:25
So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.
- Psalms 41:3–4
The LORD will sustain him on his bed of illness and restore him from his bed of sickness.
- Psalms 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
- Psalms 103:3
Through
Jeremiah 30:17But I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they call you an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares.”
it leads to
- Psalms 107:20
He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.
- Jeremiah 33:6
Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
- 1 Peter 2:24
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
- Psalms 107:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1021: “Heaven's Nurse Children” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 6:126; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 11:3-4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.