Hosea 12:14
in Hosea 12Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him and repay him for his contempt.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ephraim hath provoked to anger most bitterly: therefore shall his blood be left upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
KJV
Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
⋯
This verse in Hosea 12
Commentary
8 notes on this verse"Ephraim has provoked me to anger with his bitter words; his blood will be on him, and his Lord will repay him for his contempt." Likewise Septuagint. Therefore when I had so helped Ephraim that I had led the naked, the exiled and the lonely to a rich and a masterful Lord, and had made him the parent of many sons, Ephraim deserted me, indeed provoked me to anger: and with his bitterness made bitter what was sweet.
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 Awakening3 voices
His blood - He shall bear the punishment of all his blood; his murders of the innocent, and his own guilt too. His reproach - Which Ephraim hath cast upon the prophets, the worshippers of God, and on God; preferring idols before him. His Lord - God who is Lord of all.
), Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly. See how men are deceived in their opinion of themselves, and how they will one day be undeceived. Ephraim thought that there was no iniquity in him that deserved to be called sin (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Therefore shall he leave his blood upon him - He will not remove his guilt. These are similar to our Lord’s words, Joh 3:36; Joh 9:41: “He that believeth not on the Son of God, shall not see life, for the wrath of God Abideth On Him” - shall not be removed by any remission, as he rejects the only way in which he can be saved. Because ye say, We see; therefore, Your Sin Remaineth, i.e., it still stands charged against you. Your miseries and destruction are of your own procuring; your perdition is of yourselves.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
provoked him--that is, God. leave his blood upon him--not take away the guilt and penalty of the innocent blood shed by Ephraim in general, and to Molech in particular. his reproach shall his Lord return unto him--Ephraim's dishonor to God in worshipping idols, God will repay to him.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
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
Ephraim provoked - the Lord most bitterly Literally, “with bitternesses,” i. e., with most heinous sins, such as are most grievously displeasing to God, and were a most bitter requital of all His goodness. “Wherefore He shall leave” (or, “cast”) “his blood” (literally, “bloods”) “upon him.” The plural “bloods” expresses the manifoldness of the bloodshed . It is not used in Holy Scripture of mere guilt. Ephraim had shed blood profusely, so that it ran like water in the land (see the notes above at Hos 4:2; Hos 5:2). He had sinned with a high hand against God, in destroying man made in the image of God. Amid that bloodshed, had been the blood not of the innocent only, but of those whom God sent to rebuke them for their idolatry, their rapine, their bloodshed. “Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord” 1Ki 18:4, as far as in her lay, with a complete excision. Ephraim thought his sins past; they were out of his sight; he thought that they were out of God’s also; but they were laid up with God; and God, the prophet says, would cast them down upon him, so that they would crush him. And his reproach shall his Lord return unto him - For the blood which he had shed, should his own blood be shed, for the reproaches which he had in divers ways cast against God or brought upon Him, he should inherit reproach. Those who rebel against God, bring reproach on Him by their sins, reproach Him by their excuses for their sins reproach Him in those whom He sends to recall them from their sins, reproach Him for chastening them for their sins. All who sin against the knowledge of God, bring reproach upon Him by acting sinfully against that knowledge. So Nathan says to David, “Thou hast given much occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme” 2Sa 12:14. The reproachful words of the enemies of God are but the echo of the opprobrious deeds of His unfaithful servants. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִכְעִ֥יס | hikhis | he has provoked to anger | H3707 → | |
| אֶפְרַ֖יִם | ʾefrayim | Ephraim | H669 → | 180 times |
| תַּמְרוּרִ֑ים | tamrurim | bitterness<es> | H8563 → | |
| וְדָמָיו֙ | vedamav | and blood<s> his | H1818 → | 360 times |
| עָלָ֣יו | ʾalav | on him | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יִטּ֔וֹשׁ | yitoosh | he will leave | H5203 → | |
| וְחֶ֨רְפָּת֔וֹ | vecherpato | and reproach his | H2781 → | |
| יָשִׁ֥יב | yashiv | he will repay | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| ל֖וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| אֲדֹנָֽיו׃ | ʾadonav | lord<s> his | H113 → |
הִכְעִ֥יסhe has provoked to anger
hikhisH3707 →
אֶפְרַ֖יִםEphraim
ʾefrayimH669 →180 times
תַּמְרוּרִ֑יםbitterness<es>
tamrurimH8563 →
וְדָמָיו֙and blood<s> his
vedamavH1818 →360 times
עָלָ֣יוon him
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
יִטּ֔וֹשׁhe will leave
yitooshH5203 →
וְחֶ֨רְפָּת֔וֹand reproach his
vecherpatoH2781 →
יָשִׁ֥יבhe will repay
yashivH7725 →1056 times
ל֖וֹto him
lo
אֲדֹנָֽיו׃lord<s> his
ʾadonavH113 →
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
Deuteronomy 28:37You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 25:9
behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents,…
- Jeremiah 24:9
I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
- 1 Kings 9:7–8
then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an…
- 2 Chronicles 7:20
then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of…
- Psalms 44:13–14
You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
- Jeremiah 25:9
Through
Hosea 7:16They turn, but not to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the cursing of their tongue; for this they will be ridiculed in…
it leads to
- Psalms 78:57
They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.
- Hosea 9:3
They will not remain in the land of the LORD; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
- Ezekiel 23:32
This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup deep and wide. It will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.
- Psalms 78:57
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); 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 12:14; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.