Bible Strands
Hosea 13:16
Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Hosea delivers this oracle to the northern kingdom, specifically addressing Samaria, as political idolatry and Assyrian threats converge. The prophet speaks during a period of national crisis when military invasion is imminent.
The words — תֶּאְשַׁם (te'.Sham) literally means “it will be held guilty,” and מָרְתָ֖ה (ma.re.Tah) means “it has rebelled.” These terms frame the coming disaster as a covenantal legal verdict rather than random violence.
The thread — The pattern of prophetic warning followed by historical execution appears in 2 Kings 8:12 and 2 Kings 15:16, while Psalms 137:8 mirrors the same principle of measured retribution for violence against God’s people.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that political defiance against divine authority produces irreversible historical consequences. It demands an end to romanticizing national autonomy and a recognition that covenant faithlessness inevitably generates its own destruction.
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
Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 8:12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”
- 2 Kings 15:16 At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.
- Psalms 137:8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
- Isaiah 13:16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.
- Amos 1:13 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory.
- Nahum 3:10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.
- 2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
- 2 Kings 17:18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained,
- 2 Kings 19:9 Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
- Isaiah 7:8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered as a people.