Bible Strands
Hosea 12:11
Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers God’s declaration to Israel and Judah amid a broader message about prophetic revelation and Jacob’s historical flight to Aram. The address confronts the northern tribes with the reality of their covenant failure.
The words — אָוֶן ('a.ven) translates as wickedness, and שָׁוְא (shav') means worthlessness. These terms frame the rhetorical questions that expose the futility of Gilead’s crimes and Gilgal’s sacrifices.
The thread — Gilead’s reputation as a city of evildoers appears in Hosea 6:8, while Gilgal’s role as a center of corrupted worship is warned against in Hosea 4:15, and multiplied altars for sinning are noted in Hosea 8:11.
Why it lands — The text states that ritual sacrifice at designated shrines cannot conceal covenant corruption, and that God’s prophetic word guarantees the collapse of such empty worship. It demands a reader to abandon reliance on external religious acts and recognize the certainty of divine judgment against unrepentant sin.
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
Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
Cross-references
- Hosea 4:15 Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
- Hosea 6:8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with footprints of blood.
- Hosea 8:11 Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.
- Hosea 9:15 All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them from My house for the wickedness of their deeds. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.
- Hosea 10:1 Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.
- 1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”
- 2 Kings 17:9 The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city, they built high places in all their cities.
- Jeremiah 2:20 “For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
- Jeremiah 2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.
- Jeremiah 10:8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!