Bible Strands
Hosea 13:3
Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Hosea addresses the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah immediately after condemning their crafting and worship of silver calf idols. He pronounces the consequence of their escalating idolatry at the moment their covenant loyalty collapses.
The words — לָ/כֵ֗ן (la./Khen) translates literally as "therefore," marking the direct causal link between their sin and the coming judgment. כְּ/מֹץ (ke./Motz) means "chaff," the dry, worthless husks separated from grain during the threshing process.
The thread — The chaff metaphor reappears in Psalms 1:4 to describe the fate of the wicked, while the smoke and melting wax imagery appears in Psalms 68:2 to depict divine removal of enemies. Hosea 6:4 earlier deployed the identical morning mist and dew similes to condemn Israel's fleeting loyalty.
Why it lands — The text declares that idolatry yields only rapid, total dissolution rather than lasting security or salvation. It requires the reader to abandon reliance on crafted images and acknowledge the sole, enduring authority of Yahweh.
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
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
Cross-references
- Psalms 1:4 Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
- Psalms 68:2 As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.
- Hosea 6:4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.
- Isaiah 17:13 The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.
- Daniel 2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
- Isaiah 41:15 Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
- Psalms 83:12 who said, “Let us possess for ourselves the pastures of God.”