Hosea 7:12
in Hosea 7As they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the air. I will chastise them when I hear them flocking together.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the birds of the heavens; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.
KJV
When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.
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This verse in Hosea 7
Commentary
8 notes on this verseWhen they shall go,.... That is, to Egypt or Assyria: I will spread my net upon them; bring them into great straits and difficulties; perhaps the Assyrian army is meant, which was the Lord's net, guided, and directed, and spread by his providence, and according to his will, to take this silly dove in; and which enclosed them on all sides, that they could not escape; see Eze 12:
This site's exposition
a silly dove without heart
on Hosea 7:11-12
Ephraim's foreign policy is pictured as a dove without sense, fluttering between Egypt and Assyria for help instead of trusting the Lord who could have kept either power at a distance. The two empires the kings courted for alliance are the very net the Lord will spread, bringing Israel down like birds caught out of the air, a chastisement fitted exactly to the sin it answers. As their congregation hath heard points back to warnings already given and already ignored, so the coming judgment is not a surprise but a promise finally kept.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"And Ephraim became like a bird deceived, not having a heart. They called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians. But when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowls of the air; I will strike them as their congregation hath heard." LXX: "And Ephraim was like a foolish dove, without understanding; they called to Egypt, they went to Assyria. I will spread my net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens; I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart. To be harmless as a dove, without gall, and not to hurt or injure others, is commendable; but to be sottish as a dove, without heart, that knows not how to defend herself and provide for her own safety, is a shame.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
(3.) They are made to smart for their folly: I will chastise them. Note, The disappointments we meet with in the creature, when we put a confidence in it, are a necessary chastisement, or discipline, that we may learn to be wiser another time. (4.) In all this the scripture is fulfilled.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
When they shall go - To those nations for help: - I will spread my net upon them - I will cause them to be taken by those in whom they trusted. I will bring them down - They shall no sooner set off to seek this foreign help, than my net shall bring them down to the earth. The allusion to the dove, and to the mode of taking the fowls of heaven, is still carried on.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
When they shall go--to seek aid from this or that foreign state. spread my net upon them--as on birds taken on the ground (Eze 12:13), as contrasted with "bringing them down" as the "fowls of the heavens," namely, by the use of missiles. as their congregation hath heard--namely, by My prophets through whom I threatened "chastisement" (Ho 5:9;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
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
When they go - (Literally, “according as” they go, in all circumstances of time or place or manner, when whithersoever or howsoever they shall go,) I “will spread My net upon them,” so as to surround and envelop them on all sides and hold them down. The “dove” soaring aloft, with speed like the storm-wind Psa 55:6-8, is a picture of freedom, independence, impetuous, unhindered, following on its own course; weak and timid, it trusts in the skillfulness with which it guides its flight, to escape pursuit; the “net,” with its thin slight meshes, betokens how weak instruments become all-sufficient in the hands of the Almighty; the same dove, brought down from its almost viewless height, fluttering weakly, helplessly and hopelessly, under those same meshes, is a picture of that same self-dependent spirit humiliated, overwhelmed by inevitable evils, against which it impotently struggles, from which it seems to see its escape, but by which it is held as fast, as if it lay motionless in iron. As their congregation hath heard - Manifoldly had the message of reward on obedience, and of punishment on disobedience, come to Israel. It was spread throughout the law; it fills the book of Deuteronomy; it was concentrated in the blessing and the curse on mount Ebal and Gerizim; it was put into their mouths in the song of Moses; it was inculcated by all the prophets who had already prophesied to them, and now it was being enforced on that generation by Hosea himself. Other kingdoms have fallen; but their fall, apart from Scripture, has not been the subject of prophecy. Their ruin has come mostly unexpected, either by themselves or others.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
without a heart to discern between what was good for them and what was bad for them.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
I would redeem them I wanted to redeem them from the evil in which they are [found].
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. 4 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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר | kaasher | just when | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יֵלֵ֗כוּ | yelekhu | they will go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אֶפְר֤וֹשׂ | ʾefros | I will spread | H6566 → | |
| עֲלֵיהֶם֙ | ʾaleihem | over them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| רִשְׁתִּ֔י | rishti | net my | H7568 → | |
| כְּע֥וֹף | keof | like [the] bird[s] of | H5775 → | 71 times |
| הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם | hashamayim | the heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
| אֽוֹרִידֵ֑ם | ʾoridem | I will bring down them | H3381 → | |
| אַיְסִרֵ֕ם | ʾaysirem | I will chasten them | H3256 → | 43 times |
| כְּשֵׁ֖מַע | keshema' | according to a report | H8088 → | |
| לַעֲדָתָֽם׃ ס | laadatam | to assembly their | H5712 → |
כַּאֲשֶׁ֣רjust when
kaasherH834 →5497 times
יֵלֵ֗כוּthey will go
yelekhuH1980 →1546 times
אֶפְר֤וֹשׂI will spread
ʾefrosH6566 →
עֲלֵיהֶם֙over them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times
רִשְׁתִּ֔יnet my
rishtiH7568 →
כְּע֥וֹףlike [the] bird[s] of
keofH5775 →71 times
הַשָּׁמַ֖יִםthe heavens
hashamayimH8064 →421 times
אֽוֹרִידֵ֑םI will bring down them
ʾoridemH3381 →
אַיְסִרֵ֕םI will chasten them
ʾaysiremH3256 →43 times
כְּשֵׁ֖מַעaccording to a report
keshema'H8088 →
לַעֲדָתָֽם׃ סto assembly their
laadatamH5712 →
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
Jeremiah 16:16But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain…
it leads to
- Habakkuk 1:14–15
You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler.
- Amos 4:2
The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
- Micah 7:2
The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
- Revelation 6:15–17
Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
- Amos 9:1–3
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Topple them on the heads of all the people, and I will…
- Habakkuk 1:14–15
Through
Ezekiel 12:13But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, and…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 39:7
Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon.
- Ezekiel 17:20
I will spread My net over him and catch him in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment upon him there for the treason he committed against Me.
- Isaiah 24:17–18
Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.
- Jeremiah 39:7
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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 7:11-12; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.