Bible Strands
Hosea 7:14
They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the rebellious nation of Israel, condemning their false mourning and self-centered rituals. The oracle falls during a period of national crisis when the people seek relief through ritual wailing rather than genuine repentance.
The words — זָעֲק֤וּ (za.'a.Ku) = they have cried out and בְּ/לִבָּ֔/ם (be./li.Ba/m) = with/heart/their. The text states they do not cry to God from their hearts, but only wail on their beds for material needs.
The thread — This pattern of insincere prayer appears in Job 35:9, where men cry out under oppression, and Jeremiah 3:10, which notes Judah returned only in pretense. James 4:3 later explains that requests go unanswered when asked with wrong motives.
Why it lands — The passage demands honest self-examination regarding the source and object of one's distress. It requires the reader to distinguish between ritual performance directed at God and desperate bargaining directed at idols or circumstances.
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
And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.
Cross-references
- Job 35:9 Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
- James 4:3 And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
- Jeremiah 3:10 Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
- Psalms 78:34 When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
- Isaiah 29:13 Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
- Amos 2:8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.
- Micah 2:11 If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
- Zechariah 7:5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?
- Philippians 3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
- Judges 9:27 And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.