Hosea 11:12
in Hosea 11Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ephraim compasseth me about with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the Holy One.
KJV
Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.
⋯
This verse in Hosea 11
Commentary
9 notes on this verse"Ephraim surrounded me with his falsehood, and the house of Israel and Judah with his deceitfulness. But now God has perceived them, and they will be called people of God's sanctuary." The Hebrews tell a story of this kind: In the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, when on one side there was a mountain, on the other the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army surrounded them, and the trapped people were held, the other tribes despairing of salvation and either wishing to return to Egypt or wanting to fight, only Judah faithfully entered the sea.
This site's exposition
He will roar like a lion
on Hosea 11:10-12
The lion's roar that announces judgment at Amos 1:2 and 3:8 here calls the children home: "They will come trembling like birds from Egypt". The chapter closes with Ephraim's lies and Israel's deceit set against Judah, who "still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One."
This site's exposition
Judah still walks with God
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the verse praises Judah while 12:2 charges Judah, and Maurer read it as a censure: Judah wanders with God. Clarke heard in it the name Israel, which faithful Judah held while Ephraim and Israel lost it. Clarke also moves the verse to chapter 12.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
With lies - Play the hypocrite with me still. Yet ruleth - While idolaters are slaves to the devil, the true worshippers of God, like princes, rule with God. Faithful - Retains purity, at least truth of worship, and comparatively is faithful.
God's Displeasure with Israel. 1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. 2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:88%@v1-2
Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit,.... Here properly we should begin a new chapter, as many interpreters and commentators do; for the prophet, or the Lord by him, in Hos 11:11, having finished his predictions concerning the call and conversion of the Israelites, and their return to their land, here begins a new discourse, by comparing the characters of Ephraim and Judah, and thence descends to the sins and punishment of both.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Ephraim compasseth me about with lies - I think this verse does not well unite with the above; it belongs to another subject, and should begin the following chapter, as in the Hebrew. Judah yet ruleth with God - There is an allusion here to Gen 32:24, where Jacob having “wrestled with the Angel,” had his name changed to Israel, one that rules with God. That glory the Israelites had lost by their idolatry; but Judah still retained the true worship, and alone deserved the name of Israel.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
But as this verse praises Judah, whereas Ho 12:2 censures him, it must belong rather to the eleventh chapter and a new prophecy begins at the twelfth chapter. To avoid this, MAURER translates this verse as a censure, "Judah wanders with God," that is, though having the true God, he wanders after false gods. ruleth with God--to serve God is to reign.
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
Ephraim compasseth Me about with lies - Having spoken of future repentance, conversion, restoration, he turns back to those around him, and declares why they can have no share in that restoration. Nothing about them was true. If ever they approached God, it was “with lies.” : “God, being infinite, cannot really be “compassed about.” The prophet so speaks, to describe the “great multitude of those who thus lied to God, and the multitude and manifoldness of their lies. Wherever God looked, in all parts of their kingdom, in all their doings, all which He could see was lying to Himself.” All was, as it were, one throng of lies, heaped on one another, jostling with one another. Such is the world now. “Their sin was especially a lie, because they sinned, not through ignorance, but through malice.” Their chief lie was the setting up of the worship of the calves, with a worldly end, yet with pretence of religion toward God; denying Him, the One true God, in that they joined idols with Him, yet professing to serve Him. And so all their worship of God, their repentance, their prayers, their sacrifices were all one lie. For one lie underlay all, penetrated all, corrupted all. All half-belief is unbelief; all half-repentance is unrepentance, all half-worship is unworship; and, in that each and all give themselves out for that divine whole, whereof they are but the counterfeit, each and all are “lies,” wherewith men, on all sides, encompass God. […]
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| סְבָבֻ֤נִי | sevavuni | they have surrounded me | H5437 → | |
| בְכַ֙חַשׁ֙ | vekhachash | with lying | H3585 → | 6 times |
| אֶפְרַ֔יִם | ʾefrayim | Ephraim | H669 → | 180 times |
| וּבְמִרְמָ֖ה | uvemirmah | and with deceit | H4820 → | |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וִֽיהוּדָ֗ה | vihudah | and Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| עֹ֥ד | ʾod | still | H5750 → | 490 times |
| רָד֙ | rad | it has roamed | H7300 → | |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| אֵ֔ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| וְעִם־ | veim- | and with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| קְדוֹשִׁ֖ים | kedoshim | [the] holy [one<s>] | H6918 → | |
| נֶאֱמָֽן׃ | neeman | faithful | H539 → |
סְבָבֻ֤נִיthey have surrounded me
sevavuniH5437 →
בְכַ֙חַשׁ֙with lying
vekhachashH3585 →6 times
אֶפְרַ֔יִםEphraim
ʾefrayimH669 →180 times
וּבְמִרְמָ֖הand with deceit
uvemirmahH4820 →
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וִֽיהוּדָ֗הand Judah
vihudahH3063 →819 times
עֹ֥דstill
ʾodH5750 →490 times
רָד֙it has roamed
radH7300 →
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
אֵ֔לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
וְעִם־and with
veim-H5973 →1050 times
קְדוֹשִׁ֖ים[the] holy [one<s>]
kedoshimH6918 →
נֶאֱמָֽן׃faithful
neemanH539 →
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
Revelation 1:6who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
it leads to
- Revelation 5:10
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”
- Revelation 20:6
Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him…
- Exodus 19:6
And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”
- Revelation 5:10
Through
Revelation 3:21To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
it leads to
- 2 Timothy 2:12
if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us;
- Matthew 19:28
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve…
- 2 Timothy 2:12
Through
Isaiah 29:13Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 33:31–33
So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest…
- Jeremiah 12:2
You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.
- Mark 7:2–13
and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.
- Ezekiel 33:31–33
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies13
On this verse
About Hosea
Who and where
2 names 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); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; 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 11:12; 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.