Bible Strands
Hosea 8:3
But Israel has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel immediately after their verbal confession in Hosea 8:2 and just before detailing their unauthorized political and religious reforms in Hosea 8:4.
The words — The text highlights זָנַ֥ח (za.Nach) meaning "it has rejected" and יִרְדְּֽפ/וֹ (yir.De.fo/v) meaning "he will pursue him."
The thread — This dynamic of divine rejection and pursuit echoes in Lamentations 3:66 and Amos 1:11, while standing in contrast to God’s offer to fill open mouths in Psalms 81:10.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that rejecting what is good triggers inevitable pursuit, requiring a reader to confront the direct link between spiritual abandonment and its consequences.
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
Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
Cross-references
- Psalms 81:10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.
- Lamentations 3:66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.
- Amos 1:11 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.
- Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Psalms 36:3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
- Lamentations 4:19 Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
- 1 Timothy 5:12 and thus will incur judgment because they are setting aside their first faith.