Bible Strands
Hosea 13:2
Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Hosea addresses the northern tribes of Israel, specifically Ephraim, documenting their escalating rebellion after their history of Baal worship and subsequent judgment.
The words — יוֹסִ֣פוּ (yo.Si.fu) translates literally as "they increase," and מַסֵּכָ֨ה (ma.se.Khah) means "a molten image," both describing the deliberate, growing scale of their idolatry.
The thread — The fabrication of idols from silver and gold by craftsmen parallels the descriptions in Isaiah 44:17 and Isaiah 46:6, while the "kissing calves" motif echoes the Baal worship condemned in 1 Kings 19:18.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that idolatry is a deliberate, escalating human project that produces nothing but objects destined for destruction, leaving no room for divine rescue.
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
And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 19:18 Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
- Isaiah 44:17 From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”
- Isaiah 46:6 They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
- Jeremiah 10:4 They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.
- Hosea 2:8 For she does not acknowledge that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, who lavished on her silver and gold—which they crafted for Baal.
- Habakkuk 2:18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Romans 1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Romans 11:4 And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
- 2 Timothy 3:13 while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
- Numbers 32:14 Now behold, you, a brood of sinners, have risen up in place of your fathers to further stoke the burning anger of the LORD against Israel.