Bible Strands
Hosea 4:3
Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Hosea addresses Israel immediately after listing rampant covenant violations including murder, theft, and adultery. He pronounces judgment at the precise moment national corruption reaches its peak.
The words — תֶּאֱבַל (te.'e.Val) means it will dry up or mourn, and אֻמְלַל ('um.Lal) means he will wither or waste away. These verbs describe the simultaneous desolation of the earth and every inhabitant upon it.
The thread — This comprehensive ecological collapse parallels Zephaniah 1:3, where sweeping judgment removes humanity, animals, and birds. Isaiah 24:4 and Nahum 1:4 similarly depict the earth withering and waters drying under direct divine rebuke.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that moral decay triggers physical ruin. It requires the reader to accept that covenant failure dismantles both social order and the natural world.
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 shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
Cross-references
- Zephaniah 1:3 “I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
- Isaiah 24:4 The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.
- Nahum 1:4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.
- Jeremiah 12:4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”
- Ezekiel 38:20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that crawls upon the ground, and all mankind on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.
- Amos 5:16 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.
- Jeremiah 4:27 For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction.
- Isaiah 33:9 The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
- Jeremiah 4:25 I looked, and no man was left; all the birds of the air had fled.
- Amos 8:8 Will not the land quake for this, and all its dwellers mourn? All of it will swell like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.