Hosea 6:10
in Hosea 6In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there whoredom is found in Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
KJV
I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
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This verse in Hosea 6
Commentary
8 notes on this verseIn the house of Israel, I saw dreadful things; there were the fornications of Ephraim, Israel is defiled; and, Judah, I will put a harvest for you, when I will return the captivity of my people. From this crime and terrible horror, Jeremiah also spoke: "The heavens were astounded at this and the earth became deeply afraid" (Jeremiah 2). For what is more terrible than ten tribes suddenly turning to the worship of idols?
This site's exposition
Gilead is a city
on Hosea 6:8-10
Gilead is named a city of workers of iniquity, polluted with blood, and the bench reads the charge against a specific place east of the Jordan long associated with violence going back to Jephthah's era, a reputation the prophet revives rather than invents. The company of priests is likened to troops of robbers lying in wait for a traveler, murdering by consent on the very roads pilgrims traveled toward the shrines, the older commentators taking this either literally, of priests turned to banditry, or as a figure for the spiritual murder of leading the people astray, the readings named together. I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel returns the whoredom charge of chapters 1-3 and 4 to the nation once more, Ephraim's defilement stated as a settled fact the Lord himself has witnessed.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Of Ephraim - Which was brought in by an Ephraimite, by Jeroboam, two hundred years ago, and is there still. Israel is defiled - It hath overspread all Israel.
Note, The sin of sinners, especially sinners of the house of Israel, has enough in it to make them tremble, for it is a horrible thing, it is amazing, and it is threatening, enough to make them blush, for Israel is thereby defiled and rendered odious in the sight of God. [4.] Look into Judah, and you find them sharing with Israel (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Note, Those who are disposed to turn to God themselves should do all they can to excite, and engage, and encourage others to return to him. What it is they engage to do: " Come, and let us return to the Lord,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I have seen a horrible thing - That is, the idolatry that prevailed in Israel to such a degree that the whole land was defiled.
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
I have seen a horrible thing - Literally, “what would make one shudder.” God had seen it; therefore man could not deny it. In the sight of God, and amid the sense of His presence, all excuses fail. In the house of Israel - o: “For what more horrible, more amazing than that this happened, not in any ordinary nation but “in the house of Israel,” in the people of God, in the portion of the Lord, as Moses said, “the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance?” In another nation, idolatry was error. In Israel, which had the knowledge of the one true God and had received the law, it was horror.” “There is the whoredom of Ephraim,” widespread, over the whole land, wherever the house of Ephraim was, through the whole kingdom of the ten tribes, “there” was its spiritual adultery and defilement.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּבֵית֙ | beveit | in [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| רָאִ֖יתִי | raiti | I have seen | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| שַׁעֲרֽוּרִיָּ֑ה | shaaririyah | a horrible [thing] | H8186 → | |
| שָׁ֚ם | sham | [is] there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| זְנ֣וּת | zenut | prostitution | H2184 → | |
| לְאֶפְרַ֔יִם | leefrayim | [belongs] to Ephraim | H669 → | 180 times |
| נִטְמָ֖א | nitma' | it has made itself unclean | H2930 → | 162 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
בְּבֵית֙in [the] house of
beveitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
רָאִ֖יתִיI have seen
raitiH7200 →1300 times
שַׁעֲרֽוּרִיָּ֑הa horrible [thing]
shaaririyahH8186 →
שָׁ֚ם[is] there
shamH8033 →834 times
זְנ֣וּתprostitution
zenutH2184 →
לְאֶפְרַ֔יִם[belongs] to Ephraim
leefrayimH669 →180 times
נִטְמָ֖אit has made itself unclean
nitma'H2930 →162 times
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 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
Hosea 4:11Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Luke 21:34
But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.
- Isaiah 28:7
These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling…
- Proverbs 20:1
Through
Jeremiah 23:14And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness.…
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:9–10
Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Jeremiah 29:23
For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He…
- Ezekiel 22:25
The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.
- Genesis 18:20
Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- Deuteronomy 32:32
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
- Isaiah 1:9–10
About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 6:10-11; 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.