ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Hosea 8.5-6

Book: Hosea · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

3. Israel hath cast off that which is good: the enemy shall pursue him. 4. They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

5. He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? 6. For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God; yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

  1. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: he hath no standing grain; the blade shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up. 8. Israel is swallowed up: now are they among the nations as a vessel wherein none delighteth. (Hosea 8:3-8, ASV)
WEB

3. Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy will pursue him. 4. They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I didn’t approve. Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, that they may be cut off.

5. Let Samaria throw out his calf idol! My anger burns against them! How long will it be until they are capable of purity? 6. For this is even from Israel! The workman made it, and it is no God; indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

  1. For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up. 8. Israel is swallowed up. Now they are among the nations like a worthless thing. (Hosea 8:3-8, WEB)
KJV

3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him. 4. They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

5. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? 6. For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

  1. For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. stalk: or, standing corn 8. Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. (Hosea 8:3-8, KJV)
YLT

3. Cast off good hath Israel, an enemy pursueth him. 4. They have made kings, and not by Me, They have made princes, and I have not known, Their silver and their gold they have made to them idols, So that they are cut off.

5. Cast off hath thy calf, O Samaria, Burned hath Mine anger against them, Till when are they not capable of purity? 6. For even it [is] of Israel; an artificer made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!

  1. For wind they sow, and a hurricane they reap, Stalk it hath none, a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield, strangers do swallow it up. 8. Israel hath been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight. (Hosea 8:3-8, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: YHWH, through Hosea
  • Audience: Samaria and the northern kingdom
  • Location: Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom
  • Time period: c. 750-722 BC, from the last years of Jeroboam II through the dynastic chaos that followed to the eve of Samaria's fall to Assyria

Theological reading

The calf is Jeroboam I's cult object at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:28-30), itself a repetition of Aaron's calf at Sinai (Exodus 32), and Hosea treats the two as one continuous offense. Verse 6 makes the standard prophetic reduction: "the workman made it, and it is no God," the argument Isaiah later develops at length by following an idol backward to the tree it was cut from (Isaiah 44:9-20).

Note what the northern calf cult claimed for itself. It did not present itself as abandoning YHWH but as worshipping him under a different image, which is precisely why Hosea treats it as adultery inside the marriage rather than as leaving the marriage. That distinction is what makes the book's governing metaphor fit the offense.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

  • TBD
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Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.