Bible Strands
Hosea 10:7
Samaria will be carried off with her king like a twig on the surface of the water.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Hosea pronounces this oracle against the northern kingdom of Israel during a time of political fragmentation and covenant unfaithfulness. He addresses the inhabitants of Samaria and their ruling class regarding their imminent downfall.
The words — The Hebrew נִדְמֶה (nidmeh) literally means "will be destroyed," and קֶצֶף (keceph) means "twig" or "chip of wood." These terms describe the city and its ruler as helpless debris swept away by judgment.
The thread — The floating debris imagery parallels the shame over wooden idols in Hosea 10:6 and the shameful foaming of Jude 1:13. The collapse of royal leadership echoes the rhetorical question in Hosea 10:3 about the futility of human kingship without reverence for the LORD.
Why it lands — The text states that Samaria and its king will be carried off like floating wood, leaving no room for political or religious self-preservation. It requires the reader to abandon reliance on human alliances and idols, recognizing that divine judgment operates independently of earthly power.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.
Cross-references
- Hosea 10:3 Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?”
- 2 Kings 1:3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’
- Jude 1:13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
- 1 Kings 21:1 Some time after these events, Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
- 2 Kings 15:30 Then Hoshea son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah. In the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah, Hoshea attacked Pekah, killed him, and reigned in his place.
- 2 Kings 17:4 But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.
- Hosea 10:15 Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day dawns, the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.
- Hosea 13:11 So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away.