Bible Strands
Hosea 11:2
But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks through Hosea to Israel, marking the moment after His exodus deliverance when the nation actively rejected His summons. The declaration follows the contrast between God's paternal care and their deliberate departure.
The words — The Hebrew קָרְא֖וּ (qārāʾ) translates literally to "they summoned" or "called," while יְקַטֵּרֽוּ (yəqaṭṭērû) means "they made smoke" or "burned incense." These verbs anchor the verse's contrast between divine initiative and idolatrous response.
The thread — The text records Israel's departure from the caller and their sacrifice to Baals and carved images. This pattern appears in Jeremiah 18:15 and Hosea 2:13, where incense to idols is condemned, and Isaiah 65:7, which links ancestral idolatry to present judgment.
Why it lands — The text states that increased divine calling produced increased departure, not obedience. Readers must confront that ritual worship substitutes for covenant loyalty and that grace does not compel faithfulness.
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 they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 18:15 Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.
- Hosea 2:13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.
- Isaiah 65:7 both for your iniquities and for those of your fathers,” says the LORD. “Because they burned incense on the mountains and scorned Me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment for their former deeds.”
- 2 Kings 17:13 Yet through all His prophets and seers, the LORD warned Israel and Judah, saying, “Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets.”
- Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.
- Hosea 13:1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died.
- John 3:19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
- Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Deuteronomy 29:2 Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.
- Judges 10:6 And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.