Hosea 7:8
in Hosea 7Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is an unturned cake.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ephraim, he mixeth himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
KJV
Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
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This verse in Hosea 7
Commentary
9 notes on this verse"Ephraim mingled himself with the people. Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned." LXX: "Ephraim was mingled with his own people: Ephraim is become as ashes, which is not returned." The kingdom of ten tribes has been made, like all nations, because they have departed from the Lord: and like ashes of bread, which does not return, that is, does not do penance.
This site's exposition
a cake not turned
on Hosea 7:8-10
Ephraim mixed himself among the peoples, court and cult both looking outward for security, and the prophet's image for the result is a cake not turned, burned on one side and raw dough on the other, fit for nothing. Strangers devour his strength while gray hairs mark him as an old man who does not know it, a nation aging into weakness without noticing its own decline. Israel's pride testifies to his face, yet for all of it they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him, the chapter's recurring diagnosis that the coming judgment answers a settled refusal rather than mere ignorance.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The kingdom of the ten tribes has become like any other nation because they went away from the Lord. And he [Ephraim] is like a bread beneath the ashes that is not turned, that is, he does not repent.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XI, Section 10 · Written before 604.
proposed
Ephraim is a cake under the ashes not turned. For a cake under the ashes, that hath ashes upon it, lays the cleaner side flat to the ground, and has the upper side the fouler, in proportion as it carries the ashes upon it. And so with the mind that harbours earthly thoughts, what else does it carry upon itself but a load of ashes? But if it will be 'turned,' the clean surface, which it had kept downwards, it brings back to the top, when it has shaken off the ashes that it had upon it. If therefore we shake off from the mind the ashes of earthly thoughts, as it were we 'turn the cake under the ashes,' that that bent of our mind may henceforth go to the rear, which the ashes of grovelling thought before overlaid, and the clean face come to the top, that our right bent of mind may not henceforth be surcharged with the weight of earthly desire. Which we can never do, except we be bedewed with the grace of the Holy Spirit, in that when Almighty God 'sendeth out the waters, they will overturn the earth.'
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Ephraim - The kingdom of Israel. Mixed himself - With the Heathens by leagues and commerce and by imitation of their manners. Not turned - Burnt on one side, and dough on the other, and so good for nothing on either: always in one extreme or the other.
Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people,....
Note, It is sad to think how many, who, after a sort, profess religion, are made up of contraries and inconsistencies, as a cake not turned, a constant self-contradiction, and always in one extreme or the other. They were strangely insensible of the judgments of God, which they were under, and which threatened their ruin,
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A cake not turned - In the East having heated the hearth, they sweep one corner, put the cake upon it, and cover it with embers; in a short time they turn it, cover it again, and continue this several times, till they find it sufficiently baked. All travelers into Asiatic countries have noted this.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people - i. e., with the pagan; he “mixed” or “mingled” himself among or with them, so as to corrupt himself, as it is said, “they were mingled among the pagan and learned their works” Psa 106:35. God had forbidden all intermarriage with the pagan Exo 34:12-16, lest His people should corrupt themselves: they thought themselves wiser than He, intermarried, and were corrupted. Such are the ways of those who put themselves amid occasions of sin. Ephraim is - (literally, “is become”) a cake (literally, “on the coals”) not turned The prophet continues the image . “Ephraim” had been “mingled,” steeped, kneaded up into one, as it were, “with the pagan,” their ways, their idolatries, their vices. God would amend them, and they, withholding themselves from His discipline, and not yielding themselves wholly to it, were but spoiled. The sort of cake, to which Ephraim is here likened, “uggah” literally, “circular,” was a thin pancake, to which a scorching heat was applied on one side; sometimes by means of hot charcoal heaped upon it; sometimes, (it is thought,) the fire was within the earthen jar, around which the thin dough was fitted. If it remained long “unturned,” it was burned on the one side; while it continued unbaked, doughy, recking, on the other; the fire spoiling, not penetrating it through. Such were the people; such are too many so-called Christians; they united in themselves hypocrisy and ungodliness, outward performance and inward lukewarmness; the one overdone, but without any wholesome effect on the other. The one was scorched and black; the other, steamed, damp, and lukewarm; the whole worthless, spoiled irremediably, fit only to be cast away. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֶפְרַ֕יִם | ʾefrayim | Ephraim | H669 → | 180 times |
| בָּעַמִּ֖ים | baamim | among the peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| ה֣וּא | hu' | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| יִתְבּוֹלָ֑ל | yitbolal | he mixes himself | H1101 → | |
| אֶפְרַ֛יִם | ʾefrayim | Ephraim | H669 → | 180 times |
| הָיָ֥ה | hayah | he has become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| עֻגָ֖ה | ʾugah | a bread cake | H5692 → | |
| בְּלִ֥י | beli | not | H1097 → | 58 times |
| הֲפוּכָֽה׃ | hafukhah | turned over | H2015 → |
אֶפְרַ֕יִםEphraim
ʾefrayimH669 →180 times
בָּעַמִּ֖יםamong the peoples
baamimH5971 →1873 times
ה֣וּאhe
hu'H1931 →1879 times
יִתְבּוֹלָ֑לhe mixes himself
yitbolalH1101 →
אֶפְרַ֛יִםEphraim
ʾefrayimH669 →180 times
הָיָ֥הhe has become
hayahH1961 →3559 times
עֻגָ֖הa bread cake
ʾugahH5692 →
בְּלִ֥יnot
beliH1097 →58 times
הֲפוּכָֽה׃turned over
hafukhahH2015 →
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
Malachi 2:11Judah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 6:14–18
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
- 2 Corinthians 6:14–18
Through
Ezra 9:12Now, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 7:3
Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
- Deuteronomy 23:6
You are not to seek peace or prosperity from them as long as you live.
- Joshua 23:12–13
For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them,
- Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Deuteronomy 7:3
Through
Psalms 106:35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
it leads to
- Judges 3:5–6
Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
- Judges 3:5–6
Through
Ezra 9:1After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like…
it leads to
- Leviticus 18:24–30
Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves.
- Leviticus 18:24–30
About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 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); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI, Section 10; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 7:8-10; Jerome, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 2:7; 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.