Hosea 7:13
in Hosea 7Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me! Though I would redeem them, they speak lies against Me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Woe unto them! for they have wandered from me; destruction unto them! for they have trespassed against me: though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
KJV
Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
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This verse in Hosea 7
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Pretending to be My worshippers, when they all the while worshipped idols (Ho 7:14; Ho 12:1); also defrauding Me of the glory of their deliverance, and ascribing it and their other blessings to idols [CALVIN].
This site's exposition
Woe unto them
on Hosea 7:13-14
A double woe falls on a people who fled rather than stayed and who spoke lies against the very God who had redeemed them, the exodus history itself turned into an accusation of ingratitude. Verse fourteen names the shape of their worship, howling on their beds instead of crying with the heart, ritual noise without relationship, gathered for corn and wine and still counted as rebels. The bench reads the howling as the borrowed grief of Baal's ritual mourning, an old form of religion performed toward the wrong God.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"First I will educate them through the threat of sufferings. Then I will catch all of them like birds, placing around them a cloud of enemies like a net." And having said that, he does not forget his love for mankind but offers a dirge …
If [birds] do not hold to the narrow path with cautious and careful restraint as they go their way, making their airy progress through the void, thanks to their marvelous skill, the earth, which is as it were the natural mooring for everyone and the most solid and safe foundation for all, becomes for them a present and manifest danger—not because its nature is changed but because they fall precipitously upon it by the weight of their body. Similarly, the unwearying goodness of God and his unchangeable substance itself certainly hurt no one, but we ourselves bring death upon ourselves by falling from the heights to the depths. For this very fall means death for the one who falls. For it is said: "Woe to them, for they have departed from me. They shall be destroyed, for they have transgressed against me."
"Woe to them, for they have departed from me; they will be destroyed because they have transgressed against me. I redeemed them, yet they spoke lies against me and did not cry out to me in their hearts, but instead howled in their beds." LXX: "Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they have acted wickedly against me: but I have redeemed them: but they spoke falsehood against me, and did not cry out to me with their hearts, but they howled in their beds."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Note, The woes of God's word have real effects; destruction makes them good. The judgments of his hand shall verify the judgments of his mouth. Those whom he curses, and pronounces woeful, they are cursed, they are woeful indeed.
Woe unto them, for they have fled from me,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Wo unto them! - They shall have wo, because they have fled from me. They shall have destruction, because they have transgressed against me. Though I have redeemed them - Out of Egypt; and given them the fullest proof of my love and power. Yet they have spoken lies against me - They have represented me as rigorous and cruel; and my service as painful and unprofitable.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Woe unto them, for they have fled from Me - The threatening rises in severity, as did the measure of their sin.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
I would redeem them I wanted to redeem them from the evil in which they are [found].
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
therefore, they will wail on their beds Because, therefore, a wail will come to them. So did Jonathan render it.
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
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| א֤וֹי | ʾo | woe! | H188 → | |
| לָהֶם֙ | lahem | to them | ||
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נָדְד֣וּ | nadedu | they have fled | H5074 → | |
| מִמֶּ֔נִּי | mimeni | from me | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| שֹׁ֥ד | shod | devastation | H7701 → | 25 times |
| לָהֶ֖ם | lahem | [belongs] to them | ||
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| פָ֣שְׁעוּ | fasheu | they have transgressed | H6586 → | 41 times |
| בִ֑י | vi | against me | ||
| וְאָנֹכִ֣י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | 359 times |
| אֶפְדֵּ֔ם | ʾefdem | I will redeem them | H6299 → | |
| וְהֵ֕מָּה | vehemah | and they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| דִּבְּר֥וּ | diberu | they have spoken | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| עָלַ֖י | ʾalai | on me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כְּזָבִֽים׃ | kezavim | lies | H3577 → |
א֤וֹיwoe!
ʾoH188 →
לָהֶם֙to them
lahem
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
נָדְד֣וּthey have fled
nadeduH5074 →
מִמֶּ֔נִּיfrom me
mimeniH4480 →1188 times
שֹׁ֥דdevastation
shodH7701 →25 times
לָהֶ֖ם[belongs] to them
lahem
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
פָ֣שְׁעוּthey have transgressed
fasheuH6586 →41 times
בִ֑יagainst me
vi
וְאָנֹכִ֣יand I
veanokhiH595 →359 times
אֶפְדֵּ֔םI will redeem them
ʾefdemH6299 →
וְהֵ֕מָּהand they
vehemahH1992 →553 times
דִּבְּר֥וּthey have spoken
diberuH1696 →1141 times
עָלַ֖יon me
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
כְּזָבִֽים׃lies
kezavimH3577 →
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
Lamentations 5:16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
it leads to
- Psalms 89:39
You have renounced the covenant with Your servant and sullied his crown in the dust.
- Isaiah 3:9–11
The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- Job 19:9
He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
- Jeremiah 13:18
Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”
- Psalms 89:39
Through
Jonah 1:10Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
it leads to
Through
Hosea 11:12Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 29:1–32
Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
- 2 Chronicles 29:1–32
Through
Hosea 9:12Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:25
Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
- Deuteronomy 32:25
About Hosea
This page draws on 10 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 7:13; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 23:9.2–3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 7.