Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel and the inhabitants of Samaria, condemning their recent casting of a molten calf idol. The message is delivered during a period of ongoing apostasy and impending judgment.
The words — The Hebrew phrase חָרָשׁ עָשָׂהוּ (cha.Rash 'a.Sa.hu) literally renders "a craftsman made it." This phrasing explicitly attributes the idol's origin to human labor rather than divine action.
The thread — This condemnation of human-made idols echoes the rebuke in Habakkuk 2:18 regarding carved images. It also parallels the historical warning in Psalms 106:19 and Psalms 115:4 about worshiping silver and gold fashioned by human hands.
Why it lands — The text states that the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces because it is not God. It requires the reader to abandon reliance on manufactured symbols and acknowledge that human craftsmanship cannot produce divine power.
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
For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
Cross-references
- Habakkuk 2:18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Psalms 106:19 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.
- Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Isaiah 44:9 All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.
- Jeremiah 10:3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.
- Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
- 2 Kings 23:15 He even pulled down the altar at Bethel, the high place set up by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. Then he burned the high place, ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole.
- 2 Kings 23:19 Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the LORD to anger.
- 2 Chronicles 31:1 When all this had ended, the Israelites in attendance went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own property.
- 2 Chronicles 34:6 Josiah did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them.