Bible Strands
Hosea 5:9
Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks through the prophet to Israel and Judah during a mobilized call to arms. The declaration occurs amid trumpet blasts and battle cries directed at Benjamin and the northern tribes.
The words — The Hebrew לְשַׁמָּה (lə·šam·māh) literally means "into a waste," indicating total desolation. תּוֹכֵחָה (tō·ḵê·ḥāh) translates to "rebuke," marking the specific day of divine correction.
The thread — This pattern of fixed prophetic warning and Israel's coming ruin appears in Isaiah 46:10, Hosea 9:11, and Zechariah 1:6.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that God's announced judgment is fixed and unavoidable. It requires readers to accept prophetic warning without assuming it can be altered by human action.
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
Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Hosea 9:11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird, with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
- Zechariah 1:6 But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
- Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.
- John 16:4 But I have told you these things so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
- Job 12:14 What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
- Isaiah 37:3 to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
- Isaiah 48:3 I foretold the former things long ago; they came out of My mouth and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
- Isaiah 48:5 Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’
- Hosea 5:12 So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.