Hosea 12:5
in Hosea 12the LORD is the God of Hosts— the LORD is His name of renown.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
even Jehovah, the God of hosts; Jehovah is his memorial name.
KJV
Even the Lord God of hosts; the Lord is his memorial.
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This verse in Hosea 12
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Even the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord is His memorial - The word, here as translated and written Lord, is the special and, so to say, the proper Name of God, that which He gave to Himself, and which declares His Being. God Himself authoritatively explained its meaning. When Moses inquired of Him, what he should say to Israel, when they should ask him, “what is the Name of the God of their fathers,” who, he was to tell them, had sent him to them, “God said ...
This site's exposition
grasped his brother’s heel
on Hosea 12:3-5
"In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel" recalls Jacob's birth (Genesis 25:26), then Peniel, where he wrestled until daybreak (Genesis 32:24 to 30). Verse 5 names the God he met, "the LORD is His name of renown", the covenant name the nation now bears and dishonors.
This site's exposition
His name of renown
Barnes explains LORD as the proper name God gave himself, the name that declares his being, which God explained when Moses asked at Exodus 3. Wesley names the speaker at Bethel as YHWH, the eternal and unchangeable God. He can keep what he promised there.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The judgment therefore of the Lord with Judah: and a visitation upon Jacob. He will render to him according to his ways, and according to his inventions he will recompense him. In the womb he supplanted his brother: and in his strength he had success with the angel, and he prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened: he wept and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The Lord God of hosts - He that appeared and spake, who promised the blessing and commanded the reformation at Beth-el was Jehovah, the eternal and unchangeable God; who can perform his promise, and execute his threat, who is a most terrible enemy, and most desirable friend.
Even the Lord God of hosts,....
Note, Those only are accounted the people of God that keep up a memorial of God, such a memorial of him as he himself has instituted, by which he makes himself known and will have us to remember him. Here are two memorials of his, by which he is distinguished from all others, and is to be acknowledged and adored by us. [1.] The former denotes his existence of himself.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Re 1:4, 8; compare Ex 3:14, 15; As He was unchangeable in His favor to Jacob, so will He be to His believing posterity. of hosts--which Israel foolishly worshipped. Jehovah has all the hosts (saba) or powers of heaven and earth at His command, so that He is as all-powerful, as He is faithful, to fulfil His promises (Ps 135:6;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The Lord is his memorial - He is the same God as when Jacob so successfully wrestled with him.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַֽיהוָ֖ה | vayahweh | and Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֣י | ʾelohei | [the] God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| הַצְּבָא֑וֹת | hatzevaot | <the> hosts | H6635 → | |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| זִכְרֽוֹ׃ | zikhro | [is] memorial his | H2143 → |
וַֽיהוָ֖הand Yahweh
vayahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֣י[the] God of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
הַצְּבָא֑וֹת<the> hosts
hatzevaotH6635 →
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
זִכְרֽוֹ׃[is] memorial his
zikhroH2143 →
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
Isaiah 42:8I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.
it leads to
- Isaiah 48:11
For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.
- Isaiah 43:11
I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.
- Exodus 34:14
For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
- Exodus 20:3–5
You shall have no other gods before Me.
- Psalms 83:18
May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.
- Isaiah 48:11
Through
Exodus 3:15God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My…
it leads to
- Genesis 17:7–8
I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
- Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
- Malachi 3:6
“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
- Genesis 17:7–8
Where this verse is studied
About Hosea
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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 12:2-6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.