Hosea 7:3
in Hosea 7They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
KJV
They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
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This verse in Hosea 7
Commentary
6 notes on this verse"In their malice, they made the king rejoice, and in their lies, the princes." LXX: "In their wickedness, the kings rejoiced, and in their lies, the princes." It explains what they did before Him: In their wickedness, they made King Jeroboam rejoice, and in their lies, the princes who led the people under Jeroboam. Heretics also rejoiced the devil as their king in the wickedness of their deeds, and the princes of perverse doctrines in their lies, without a doubt, of this world, whose false wisdom God destroys.
This site's exposition
When I would have healed Israel
on Hosea 7:1-3
The healer is refused before he can finish his work: when the Lord would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim only came into fuller view, a thief working within the walls and a troop of robbers ranging outside them. Verse two turns from the public crimes to the hidden ledger, they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness, their own doings surrounding them and standing before God's face whether they notice or not. Even the throne is implicated, princes made glad with lies rather than warned by truth, so no rank in the nation stands outside the corruption the prophet is describing.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): They make the king and princes glad with their wickedness. It pleased them to see the people conform to their wicked laws and examples, in the worship of their idols, and other instances of impiety and immorality, and to hear them flatter and applaud them in their wicked ways.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
They make the king glad with their wickedness,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They make the king glad with their wickedness - Wicked sovereigns and a wicked people are a curse to each other, each encouraging the other in sin. Their king, being wicked, had pleasure in their wickedness; and they, seeing him to be pleased by it, set themselves the more, to do what was evil, and to amuse him with accounts of their sins. Sin is in itself so shameful, that even the great cannot, by themselves, sustain themselves in it, without others to flatter them. A good and serious man is a reproach to them.
They make the king glad - They pleased Jeroboam by coming readily into his measures, and heartily joining with him in his idolatry. And they professed to be perfectly happy in their change, and to be greatly advantaged by their new gods; and that the religion of the state now was better than that of Jehovah. Thus, they made all their rulers, “glad with their lies.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּרָעָתָ֖ם | beraatam | by evil their | H7451 → | 662 times |
| יְשַׂמְּחוּ־ | yesamechu- | they make glad | H8055 → | |
| מֶ֑לֶךְ | melekh | [the] king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| וּבְכַחֲשֵׁיהֶ֖ם | uvekhachasheihem | and by lies their | H3585 → | 6 times |
| שָׂרִֽים׃ | sarim | princes | H8269 → | 421 times |
בְּרָעָתָ֖םby evil their
beraatamH7451 →662 times
יְשַׂמְּחוּ־they make glad
yesamechu-H8055 →
מֶ֑לֶךְ[the] king
melekhH4428 →2525 times
וּבְכַחֲשֵׁיהֶ֖םand by lies their
uvekhachasheihemH3585 →6 times
שָׂרִֽים׃princes
sarimH8269 →421 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
Romans 1:32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
it leads to
- Romans 2:1–5
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
- Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Romans 6:21
What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
- Romans 1:18
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
- Psalms 50:18
When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.
- Romans 2:1–5
Through
Jeremiah 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
it leads to
- Micah 2:11
If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 13:6
They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message.
- Micah 2:11
Through
Micah 7:3Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
it leads to
- Micah 3:11
Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster…
- Micah 3:11
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); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 7:3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.