Hosea 13:3
in Hosea 13Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
KJV
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
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This verse in Hosea 13
Commentary
8 notes on this verseTherefore they will be like morning clouds, and like morning dew that passes away, like dust swept up by a whirlwind, and like smoke from a chimney." (Vulgate "passing by"). And similarly in the Septuagint: "changing only the final image, 'and like the vapor from locusts' or 'from tears,' since we find it rendered as either 'locusts' or 'tears' in most manuscripts. For, he says, they sacrificed to calves as though slaughtering men; therefore they will be like morning clouds, and like the morning dew that passes, like dust swept up by a whirlwind, and like smoke from a chimney."
This site's exposition
Ephraim spake trembling
on Hosea 13:1-3
Ephraim once carried real weight in Israel, a tribe whose word made men tremble, and the chapter opens by naming that lost standing before it names the cause: he offended in Baal, and he died. The molten images and the idols shaped by craftsmen follow, with the strange detail that the worshippers kiss the calves they made with their own hands, a picture the commentators read as devotion turned upside down, the maker bowing to the made. The four similes of verse 3, morning cloud, early dew, wind-driven chaff, and smoke from a chimney, pile up to say the same thing four ways: whatever Ephraim has built will not last the day.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
Gregory of NazianzusON HIS BROTHER ST. CAESARIUS, ORATION 7:19 · Written before 390.
proposed
Such, brethren, is our life, we whose existence is so transitory. Such is the game we play upon earth. We do not exist, and then we are born, and being born we are soon dissolved. We are a fleeting dream, an apparition without substance, the flight of a bird that passes, a ship that leaves no trace upon the sea. We are dust, a vapor, the morning dew, a flower growing but a moment and withering in a moment. "Man's days are as grass: as the flower of the field, so shall he flourish." How beautifully has holy David meditated on our weakness: "Declare unto me the fewness of my days."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Some read it (and the original will bear it), I will be as a leopard in the way of Assyria. The judgments of God shall surprise them just when they are going to the Assyrians to seek for protection and help from them. It is added, I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved, and thereby exasperated and made more cruel ( 2 Sam. xvii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud,....
They promise themselves a great deal of safety and satisfaction in the worship of their idols, and that their prosperity will thereby be established; but God tells them that they shall be disappointed, and driven away in their wickedness. This is illustrated by four similitudes:--They shall be, 1. As the morning cloud, which promises showers of rain to the parched ground.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud - There is often a fair show of prosperity, out of God; but it is short-lived. “The third generation,” says the pagan proverb, “never enjoys the ill-gotten gain.” The highest prosperity of an ungodly state is often the next to its fall. Israel never so flourished, as under Jeroboam II. Bright and glistening with light is “the early dew;” in an hour it is gone, as if it had never been.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Therefore they shall be as the morning Cloud - as the early Dew - as the Chaff - as the Smoke - Four things, most easy to be driven about and dissipated, are employed here to show how they should be scattered among the nations, and dissipated by captivity.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵ֗ן | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| יִֽהְיוּ֙ | yihyu | they will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כַּעֲנַן־ | kaanan- | like a cloud of | H6051 → | |
| בֹּ֔קֶר | boker | [the] morning | H1242 → | 214 times |
| וְכַטַּ֖ל | vekhatal | and like <the> dew | H2919 → | 31 times |
| מַשְׁכִּ֣ים | mashkim | rising early | H7925 → | |
| הֹלֵ֑ךְ | holekh | going | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| כְּמֹץ֙ | kemotz | like chaff | H4671 → | |
| יְסֹעֵ֣ר | yesoer | [which] it is storm-driven | H5590 → | |
| מִגֹּ֔רֶן | migoren | from a threshing floor | H1637 → | 36 times |
| וּכְעָשָׁ֖ן | ukheashan | and like smoke | H6227 → | |
| מֵאֲרֻבָּֽה׃ | mearubah | from a window | H699 → |
לָכֵ֗ן<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
יִֽהְיוּ֙they will become
yihyuH1961 →3559 times
כַּעֲנַן־like a cloud of
kaanan-H6051 →
בֹּ֔קֶר[the] morning
bokerH1242 →214 times
וְכַטַּ֖לand like <the> dew
vekhatalH2919 →31 times
מַשְׁכִּ֣יםrising early
mashkimH7925 →
הֹלֵ֑ךְgoing
holekhH1980 →1546 times
כְּמֹץ֙like chaff
kemotzH4671 →
יְסֹעֵ֣ר[which] it is storm-driven
yesoerH5590 →
מִגֹּ֔רֶןfrom a threshing floor
migorenH1637 →36 times
וּכְעָשָׁ֖ןand like smoke
ukheashanH6227 →
מֵאֲרֻבָּֽה׃from a window
mearubahH699 →
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 1:4Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
it leads to
- Job 21:18
Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 3:12
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Psalms 35:5
May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
- Isaiah 29:5
But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 17:13
The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.
- Job 21:18
Through
Daniel 2:35Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found.…
it leads to
- Isaiah 2:2–3
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to…
- Isaiah 2:2–3
Through
Psalms 68:2As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.
it leads to
- Micah 1:4
The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.
- Micah 1:4
Through
Hosea 6:4What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.
it leads to
- Hosea 11:8
How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within…
- Hosea 11:8
About Hosea
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory of Nazianzus, ON HIS BROTHER ST. CAESARIUS, ORATION 7:19; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 13:3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.