Bible Strands
Hosea 8:5
He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through the prophet to the northern kingdom, directly confronting the idolatrous capital of Samaria immediately after denouncing their unauthorized political leaders and self-fabricated idols.
The words — The Hebrew verb זָנַח (za.Nach) declares that God has actively rejected the idol, while the phrase חָרָה אַפִּי (cha.Rah 'a.P/i) describes His anger as actively burning against the people.
The thread — This pronouncement of rejection runs parallel to the warning in Hosea 10:5 regarding the fate of Samaria’s calf and echoes the prophetic question of duration found in Proverbs 1:22.
Why it lands — The text states that God discards human-made substitutes and asks how long the people will remain unable to achieve innocence, demanding a clear-eyed assessment of their refusal to abandon idolatry.
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
Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 13:27 Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields—I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”
- Hosea 10:5 The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn over it with its idolatrous priests—those who rejoiced in its glory—for it has been taken from them into exile.
- Proverbs 1:22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
- Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
- 2 Kings 17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal.
- 2 Kings 17:21 When the LORD had torn Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam led Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin.
- Isaiah 45:20 Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.
- Jeremiah 4:14 Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Hosea 8:6 For this thing is from Israel—a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria.
- Acts 7:41 At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.