Bible Strands
Hosea 6:5
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel and Judah immediately after their superficial confession, responding to their loyalty that vanishes like morning mist.
The words — The Hebrew cha.Tzav.ti ("I will cut in pieces") and ha.rag.Ti/m ("I will kill them") describe divine judgment executed through prophetic proclamation and the spoken words of God's mouth.
The thread — The description of God's word as a destructive force appears in Jeremiah 23:29, where it is likened to fire and a hammer, and Jeremiah 5:14, where God's words become fire in the people's bones.
Why it lands — The text states that prophetic warning and divine speech function as instruments of judgment, establishing that ritual observance cannot replace covenant faithfulness when God's spoken word confronts rebellion.
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 have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?”
- Jeremiah 1:10 See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
- Jeremiah 5:14 Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes.
- Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
- Psalms 119:120 My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.
- Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.
- Romans 2:5 But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Revelation 2:16 Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
- Genesis 18:25 Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
- 1 Samuel 13:13 “You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.