Bible Strands
Hosea 7:12
As they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the air. I will chastise them when I hear them flocking together.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Ephraim and Israel during their desperate political maneuvering with Egypt and Assyria, declaring imminent judgment as they continue their rebellious course.
The words — The Hebrew verb אֶפְר֤וֹשׂ ('efros) means "I will spread," paired with רִשְׁתִּי (rishti), "my net," depicting a hunter's trap. The verb אֽוֹרִידֵ֑ם ('oridehem), "I will bring them down," completes the image of divine capture.
The thread — The motif of God spreading a net for capture appears in Ezekiel 12:13, while the broader context of covenant curses for disobedience aligns with Deuteronomy 28:15 and Deuteronomy 29:22.
Why it lands — It demands acknowledgment that human political alliances cannot evade divine sovereignty. The text requires readers to recognize that rebellion against God's commands guarantees inescapable judgment.
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
When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 12:13 But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, and there he will die.
- Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Deuteronomy 29:22 Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.
- Leviticus 26:14 If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments,
- Deuteronomy 31:16 And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- 2 Kings 17:13 Yet through all His prophets and seers, the LORD warned Israel and Judah, saying, “Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets.”
- Job 19:6 then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
- Ecclesiastes 9:12 For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.
- Jeremiah 16:16 But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.