Hosea 12:12
in Hosea 12Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife—for a wife he tended sheep.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
KJV
And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
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This verse in Hosea 12
Commentary
7 notes on this verseJacob fled into the region of Syria and served for Israel in his wife, and he kept watch over his wife. In the prophet, the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, and in the prophet, he was saved. The seventy interpreters [translators] say: And Jacob went into the plain of Syria and served for Israel in his wife, and he kept watch over his wife, and in the prophet, the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, and in the prophet, he was saved.
This site's exposition
Is there iniquity in Gilead
on Hosea 12:11-14
"Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife" recalls the years under Laban (Genesis 29 to 31). Verse 13 answers that servitude: "by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt", naming Moses to a people who turned on their prophets.
This site's exposition
Jacob fled to the land
Gill takes the land of Aram as Padan-aram. Clarke counts fourteen years Jacob worked and tended sheep, the price of Rachel and Leah after Laban cheated him. The prophet reminds Israel how low Jacob stood and how the LORD preserved him.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And Jacob fled into the country of Syria,.... Or, "field of Syria" (m); the same with Padanaram; for "Padan", in the Arabic language, as Bochart has shown, signifies a field; and "Aram" is Syria, and is the word here used.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Served for a wife - Seven years for Rachel. For a wife he kept sheep - Seven years for Leah; having been cheated by Laban, who gave him first Leah, instead of Rachel; and afterwards made him serve seven years more before he would confirm his first engagement. Critics complain of want of connection here. Why is this isolated fact predicted? Thus, in a detached sentence, the prophet speaks of the low estate of their ancestors, and how amply the providence of God had preserved and provided for them. This is all the connection the place requires.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Ye, though delivered from Egypt (Ho 12:13), and loaded with My favors, are yet unwilling to return to Me. country of Syria--the champaign region of Syria, the portion lying between the Tigris and Euphrates, hence called Mesopotamia. Padan-aram means the same, that is, "Low Syria," as opposed to Aramea (meaning the "high country") or Syria (Ge 48:7).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And Jacob fled into the country of Syria - Jacob chose poverty and servitude rather than marry an idotatress of Canaan. He knew not from where, except from God’s bounty and providence, he should have “bread to eat, or raiment to put on” Gen 28:20; “with his staff alone he passed over Jordan” Gen 32:10. His voluntary poverty, bearing even unjust losses Gen 31:39, and “repaying the things which he never took,” reproved their dishonest traffic; his trustfulness in God, their mistrust; his devotedness to God, their alienation from Him, and their devotion to idols. And as the conduct was opposite, so was the result. Ill-gotten riches end in poverty; stable wealth is gained, not by the cupidity of man, but by the good pleasure of God. Jacob, having “become two bands,” trusting in God and enriched by God, returned from Syria to the land promised to him by God; Israel, distrusting God and enriching himself, was to return out of the land which the Lord his God had given him, to Assyria, amid the loss of all things.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
If there is violence in Gilead If they suffered from destruction and violence, they caused it to themselves, for they were but vanity in Gilgal, and they sacrificed oxen to pagan deities.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And I spoke to the prophets to admonish you and to bring you back to do good.
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. 3 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּבְרַ֥ח | vaiyivrach | and he fled | H1272 → | |
| יַעֲקֹ֖ב | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| שְׂדֵ֣ה | sedeh | [the] region of | H7704 → | 334 times |
| אֲרָ֑ם | ʾaram | Aram | H758 → | |
| וַיַּעֲבֹ֤ד | vaiyaavod | and he served | H5647 → | |
| יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| בְּאִשָּׁ֔ה | beishah | for a wife | H802 → | 781 times |
| וּבְאִשָּׁ֖ה | uveishah | and for a wife | H802 → | 781 times |
| שָׁמָֽר׃ | shamar | he kept [flocks] | H8104 → | 468 times |
וַיִּבְרַ֥חand he fled
vaiyivrachH1272 →
יַעֲקֹ֖בJacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
שְׂדֵ֣ה[the] region of
sedehH7704 →334 times
אֲרָ֑םAram
ʾaramH758 →
וַיַּעֲבֹ֤דand he served
vaiyaavodH5647 →
יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
בְּאִשָּׁ֔הfor a wife
beishahH802 →781 times
וּבְאִשָּׁ֖הand for a wife
uveishahH802 →781 times
שָׁמָֽר׃he kept [flocks]
shamarH8104 →468 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
Deuteronomy 26:5and you are to declare before the LORD your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 10:22
Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
- Genesis 46:27
And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all.
- Genesis 31:20
Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.
- Genesis 43:1–2
Now the famine was still severe in the land.
- Genesis 43:12
Take double the silver with you so that you may return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake.
- Deuteronomy 10:22
Through
Genesis 31:41Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
it leads to
- Genesis 31:7
And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
- Genesis 31:7
Through
Genesis 27:43So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
it leads to
- Genesis 11:31
And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan.…
- Genesis 27:8
Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you.
- Genesis 11:31
Where this verse is studied
About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
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 12:12-13 and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).