Hosea 12:13
in Hosea 12But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
KJV
And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
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This verse in Hosea 12
Commentary
8 notes on this verseJacob fled into the region of Syria and served for Israel in his wife, and he kept watch over his wife. In the prophet, the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, and in the prophet, he was saved. The seventy interpreters [translators] say: And Jacob went into the plain of Syria and served for Israel in his wife, and he kept watch over his wife, and in the prophet, the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, and in the prophet, he was saved.
This site's exposition
Is there iniquity in Gilead
on Hosea 12:11-14
Is there iniquity in Gilead names a place notorious for idol altars raised in heaps in the furrows of the fields, worship multiplied past counting. Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife recalls the flight from Esau and the years under Laban (Gen 29-31), the patriarch's servitude for love set beside verse 13's greater deliverance, by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved, naming Moses and reminding a people who had turned on their own prophets exactly who had carried them this far. Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly closes the chapter with the debt still owed, his reproach shall his Lord return unto him, judgment matching the provocation measure for measure.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The ensign of his authority was not a royal sceptre, but the rod of God; with that he summoned both Egypt's plagues and Israel's blessings. Moses, as a prophet, was a type of Christ ( Acts iii. 22 ), and it is by Christ as a prophet that we are brought out of the Egypt of sin and Satan by the power of his truth.
And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
By a prophet was he preserved - Or “kept.” Jacob “kept sheep” out of love of God, sooner than unite himself with one, alien from God; his posterity “was kept” like a sheep by God, as the Psalmist said, “He led His people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron” Psa 77:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
by a prophet--Moses (Nu 12:6-8; De 18:15, 18). preserved--Translate, "kept"; there is an allusion to the same Hebrew word in Ho 12:12, "kept sheep"; Israel was kept by God as His flock, even as Jacob kept sheep (Ps 80:1;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
By a prophet (Moses) the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet (Joshua) was he preserved - Joshua succeeded Moses, and brought the Israelites into the promised land; and when they passed the Jordan at Gilgal, he received the covenant of circumcision; and yet this same place was now made by them the seat of idolatry! How blind and how ungrateful!
1 more voice on this verse
Modern Voices1 voice
Prophets guide and protect God's people by revealing the thoughts, purposes, timing and personal word of God, and by ministering His mighty power to them and their situation.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
If there is violence in Gilead If they suffered from destruction and violence, they caused it to themselves, for they were but vanity in Gilgal, and they sacrificed oxen to pagan deities.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And, through a prophet, the Lord brought up etc. And, insofar as you disgrace the prophets and mock their words, is it not so that through a prophet God brought us etc.?
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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּבְנָבִ֕יא | uvenavi' | and by a prophet | H5030 → | 314 times |
| הֶעֱלָ֧ה | heelah | he brought up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| יְהוָ֛ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם | mimitzrayim | from Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| וּבְנָבִ֖יא | uvenavi' | and by a prophet | H5030 → | 314 times |
| נִשְׁמָֽר׃ | nishmar | he was kept | H8104 → | 468 times |
וּבְנָבִ֕יאand by a prophet
uvenavi'H5030 →314 times
הֶעֱלָ֧הhe brought up
heelahH5927 →890 times
יְהוָ֛הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
מִמִּצְרָ֑יִםfrom Egypt
mimitzrayimH4714 →641 times
וּבְנָבִ֖יאand by a prophet
uvenavi'H5030 →314 times
נִשְׁמָֽר׃he was kept
nishmarH8104 →468 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 77:20You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
it leads to
- Exodus 13:21
And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel…
- Isaiah 63:11–12
Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His…
- Psalms 78:52
He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
- Exodus 14:19
And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them,
- Psalms 80:1
Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth
- Exodus 13:21
Where this verse is studied
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); Bishop Bill Hamon, 2020: The Year of the Prophets (The Elijah List); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 12:12-13; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.