Ephraim's Destruction for Idolatry
Hosea 13:1-16
Hos.13.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כדבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אפרים: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רתת: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- נשא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- בישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ויאשם: CONJ+VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- בבעל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וימת: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Hos.4:12-15 (verbal): Same prophetic context condemning Ephraim/Israel for sexual imagery of harlotry and attachment to idols; directly parallels ‘committed harlotry with Baal’ and Ephraim’s judgment.
- Hos.8:4-6 (thematic): Speaks of Ephraim’s self-exaltation and establishment of rulers/idols apart from YHWH—connects the motif of Ephraim’s prominence followed by apostasy and ruin.
- 1 Kings 12:28-30 (allusion): Jeroboam’s making of golden calves and establishment of illicit worship in the Northern Kingdom parallels the rise of idolatry (Baal/other gods) that brings about Israel/Ephraim’s downfall.
- Ps.78:9-11 (thematic): Recounts Ephraim’s turning back in battle and failure to keep God’s covenant—echoes the pattern of Ephraim’s political/military prominence married to spiritual failure leading to judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- When Ephraim spoke there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel—he offended with Baal and died.
- When Ephraim spoke there was trembling; he grew great in Israel, but he offended in Baal and died.
Hos.13.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ועתה: CONJ
- יוספו: VERB,qal,imf,3,mp
- לחטא: VERB,qal,inf
- ויעשו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- להם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- מסכה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- מכספם: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
- כתבונם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
- עצבים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- מעשה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חרשים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- כלה: ADV
- להם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- הם: PRON,personal,3,m,pl
- אמרים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- זבחי: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- אדם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עגלים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ישקון: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Exodus 32:1-4 (verbal): The golden calf episode—people use their jewelry to cast a metal idol (a calf), directly parallel to making a silver/metal image in Hosea.
- Psalm 106:19-21 (thematic): Recounts Israel making a calf at Horeb and sacrificing to it, exchanging God’s glory for an ox—parallels calf-worship and idolatrous sacrifices in Hosea.
- Psalm 115:4-8 (verbal): Describes idols of silver and gold made by human hands that cannot speak or act—echoes Hosea’s critique of metal images crafted by craftsmen.
- Isaiah 44:9-20 (allusion): Satirically depicts craftsmen fashioning idols from the same materials they use for firewood and wearing them—parallels the foolishness of making and worshipping crafted images.
- Jeremiah 7:31 (thematic): Condemns child sacrifice and burning sons in the fire to false gods—connects to Hosea’s mention of ‘human sacrifices’ offered to idols.
Alternative generated candidates
- And now they add sin to sin: they make for themselves molten images of silver, idols stamped by their own hands—the work of craftsmen. They say of them, “By men are these sacrifices; calves shall be their offerings.”
- And now they continue to sin; they have made for themselves a molten image from their silver—idols, the work of craftsmen; all are the doing of artificers. They say of them, “Sacrifices of men, bulls shall be their drink-offerings.”
Hos.13.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לכן: ADV
- יהיו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- כענן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בקר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וכטל: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- משכים: VERB,qal,ptc,-,m,pl
- הלך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- כמץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יסער: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מגרן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וכעשן: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מארבה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- James 4:14 (verbal): Calls human life a brief vapor/mist that appears briefly and vanishes—parallels Hosea's images of a morning cloud and early dew to portray transience.
- Isaiah 40:6-8 (thematic): Declares the frailty and fleetingness of all flesh ('grass' and 'flower')—same theme of ephemerality and impending removal found in Hosea's cloud/dew/chaff/smoke similes.
- 1 Peter 1:24 (quotation): Directly cites the Isaiah tradition ('all flesh is as grass...') that echoes the transient metaphors like those in Hosea 13:3, using the same rhetoric of human/mortal impermanence.
- Psalm 102:3 (verbal): Speaks of days being 'consumed like smoke,' which parallels Hosea's final image ('like smoke out of a window') emphasizing disappearance and dissolution.
Alternative generated candidates
- Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud and like early dew that passes away; like chaff driven from the threshing floor, like smoke out of the chimney.
- Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud and like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff driven by the wind, like smoke from a kiln.
Hos.13.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואנכי: PRON,1,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- מארץ: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- מצרים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ואלהים: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- זולתי: PREP
- לא: PART_NEG
- תדע: VERB,qal,impf,2,ms,sg
- ומושיע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אין: PART,neg
- בלתי: NEG
Parallels
- Exodus 20:2 (verbal): Declares 'I am the LORD your God' who brought Israel out of Egypt—same self-identification and reference to Egypt as God's act of deliverance.
- Deuteronomy 5:6 (verbal): Repeats the covenantal formula 'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt,' echoing the claim of divine identity and deliverance.
- Isaiah 43:11 (quotation): Proclaims 'I, even I, am the LORD; and besides me there is no savior,' directly paralleling the assertion that there is no other savior besides Yahweh.
- Isaiah 45:21 (thematic): Affirms God's uniqueness ('there is no God beside me') and his role as both righteous judge and savior—themes echoed in Hosea's denial of other gods and saviors.
- Deuteronomy 4:35 (thematic): Declares Yahweh's singular sovereignty ('There is no god with you')—a thematic parallel stressing exclusive worship of the God who delivered Israel from Egypt.
Alternative generated candidates
- I, the LORD your God, brought you up from the land of Egypt; you shall know no God but me, and there is no savior besides me.
- But I am the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; you shall know no god but me—there is no savior besides me.
Hos.13.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- ידעתיך: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- במדבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בארץ: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,def
- תלאבות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
Parallels
- Jeremiah 2:2 (verbal): God recalls Israel’s early devotion 'how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown'—language and setting closely parallel Hosea’s 'I knew you in the wilderness.'
- Deuteronomy 32:10 (allusion): Deuteronomy depicts God finding and caring for Israel 'in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness,' echoing the motif of divine knowledge and care in the wilderness context.
- Deuteronomy 8:2 (thematic): God’s leading and testing of Israel 'all the way that the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness' parallels Hosea’s appeal to Israel’s formative wilderness experience.
- Amos 3:2 (verbal): 'You only have I known of all the families of the earth' uses the same verb of divine 'knowing' to mark a special relationship that also grounds imminent judgment—similar theological move as Hosea 13:5.
- Psalm 78:40-41 (thematic): Psalm 78 recounts Israel’s repeated provocations 'in the wilderness,' contrasting God’s past care with Israel’s unfaithfulness, a theme central to Hosea 13:5.
Alternative generated candidates
- I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
- I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
Hos.13.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כמרעיתם: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs,3,m,pl
- וישבעו: VERB,qal,imf,3,m,pl
- שבעו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- וירם: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לבם: NOUN,m,sg,poss
- על: PREP
- כן: ADV
- שכחוני: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl,+obj=1s
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 8:10-14 (verbal): Directly echoes the warning: 'When you have eaten and are satisfied... beware lest you forget the LORD' — same link between fullness/prosperity and forgetting God.
- Amos 6:1-8 (thematic): Condemns the complacent, prosperous elite who feast and are at ease in Zion; abundance leads to complacency and divine judgment, paralleling Hosea's link of satisfaction with pride and forgetting God.
- Psalm 106:13-15 (thematic): Describes Israel's quick forgetting of God's works and refusal to wait for his counsel, leading to testing God and punishment — similar pattern of satisfaction/pride followed by faithlessness in Hosea.
- Proverbs 30:8-9 (thematic): Expresses the opposite prayerful concern: do not make me so full that I deny/forget God ('lest I be full and deny you'), highlighting the common wisdom motif that fullness can provoke forgetting the LORD.
Alternative generated candidates
- Like a well-fattened heifer they were satisfied; they grew proud, their heart was exalted—therefore they forgot me.
- Like a nourished flock they were filled and were satisfied, and their heart was exalted; therefore they forgot me.
Hos.13.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואהי: VERB,qal,impf,1,ms,sg
- להם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- כמו: PREP
- שחל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כנמר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- על: PREP
- דרך: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אשור: NOUN,prop,m,sg
Parallels
- Hosea 5:14 (verbal): Uses nearly identical wording—'I will be unto them as a lion'—applying lion imagery to Yahweh's judgment against Israel/Ephraim.
- Hosea 13:8 (structural): Immediate chapter parallel that continues the predator-judgment motif (God meeting Israel 'as a bear'), intensifying the theme of imminent violent punishment.
- Isaiah 10:5-6 (thematic): Depicts Assyria as the instrument of God's wrath ('the rod of my anger'), paralleling Hos.13:7's linkage of divine judgement with the Assyrian route/assault.
- Nahum 2:12-13 (thematic): Uses lion-den imagery to describe imperial power and its downfall; thematically parallels prophetic use of predatory imagery against Assyria/Nineveh.
- Amos 3:8 (thematic): Portrays the lion's roar as the divine/prophetic warning; thematically related in presenting animal (lion) imagery to signify Yahweh's threatening action and prophetic declaration.
Alternative generated candidates
- So I will be to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lie in wait along the road to Assyria.
- I will be to them like a lion; like a young lion I will lurk by the road to Assyria.
Hos.13.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אפגשם: VERB,qal,impf,1,c,sg+3,m,pl
- כדב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שכול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואקרע: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
- סגור: ADJ,m,sg
- לבם: NOUN,m,sg,poss
- ואכלם: VERB,qal,perf,1,c,sg,obj+3,m,pl
- שם: ADV
- כלביא: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חית: NOUN,f,sg,cs
- השדה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- תבקעם: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg+3,m,pl
Parallels
- Hosea 5:14 (verbal): Uses the same divine imagery of God as a lion who rends and departs—close verbal and thematic echo within Hosea (’I will be like a lion… I will tear and go away’).
- 1 Samuel 17:34-37 (thematic): David recalls killing a lion and a bear that seized a lamb—shared imagery of lion and bear as deadly predators and protectors/attackers of flocks, echoing the violent predator-metaphor of judgment.
- Psalm 7:2-3 (verbal): Speaks of being torn by a lion (‘Or he tear my soul like a lion’), paralleling the language of being ripped/ devoured used in Hosea’s depiction of divine wrath.
- Psalm 17:12-13 (verbal): Describes enemies as lions eager to tear and rend—similar phrasing and image of tearing/devouring by lions applied to hostile forces or divine action.
- Nahum 2:11-12 (thematic): Uses lion-den and lion imagery to portray the fall and devastation of a nation; parallels Hosea’s use of wild-beast metaphors to depict catastrophic divine judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- I will meet them like a bear bereaved of her cubs; I will rend open their closed heart and devour them there—like a lion that tears the prey of the field.
- I will meet them like a she-bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their enclosure and devour them there. I will rend them like a lion—like a wild beast they shall be dashed in pieces.
Hos.13.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- שחתך: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כי: CONJ
- בי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- בעזרך: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,2,ms
Parallels
- Isaiah 63:5 (verbal): Isaiah similarly depicts a scene where there is 'none to help'—the language and theme of helplessness before judgment echo Hosea's declaration of Israel's ruin.
- Psalm 121:2 (thematic): Contrasts Hosea's note of Israel's lack of help with the recurring psalmic theme that 'my help comes from the LORD,' highlighting dependence on God as the sole true helper.
- Jeremiah 2:13 (allusion): Jeremiah condemns Israel for forsaking 'the fountain of living waters' (God) and seeking other supports, a theme behind Hosea's charge that Israel is ruined for lacking its true helper.
- Isaiah 41:10 (thematic): Offers the counterpoint promise of God's help ('I will help you, I will uphold you'), underscoring Hosea's critique that Israel has no helper because it has turned from Yahweh.
Alternative generated candidates
- O Israel, you are ruined—your help is only in me.
- O Israel, you are ruined; your help is from me.
Hos.13.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אהי: ADV,interr
- מלכך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- אפוא: PART
- ויושיעך: VERB,hif,impf,3,m,sg
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עריך: NOUN,f,pl,const
- ושפטיך: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs,2ms
- אשר: PRON,rel
- אמרת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- תנה: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- מלך: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- ושרים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- 1 Samuel 8:5-7 (quotation): The people demand a king—'Give us a king to judge us'—the same demand Hosea cites; Samuel and Yahweh respond to the request (verbal and situational parallel).
- Hosea 13:11 (verbal): Immediate context within Hosea: God says He gave them a king in His anger and took him away—direct continuation and explanation of the consequence of asking for a king and princes.
- Deuteronomy 17:14-15 (structural): The law prescribes how and when Israel may set a king 'when you come into the land'—background legal/ideological framework for Israel's request for a monarch.
- Judges 8:22-23 (thematic): Israelites ask Gideon to rule over them as king and he refuses—contrasts the demand in Hosea and highlights different responses to the idea of kingship in Israelite tradition.
Alternative generated candidates
- Shall I then be your king?—I would save you in all your cities. Your judges, of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes,”
- Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges—of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’?
Hos.13.11 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אתן: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- מלך: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- באפי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,suf,1,sg
- ואקח: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- בעברתי: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs+1,_,sg
Parallels
- 1 Samuel 8:7-9 (thematic): God tells Samuel to grant Israel a human king though it represents a rejection of Yahweh's direct rule—parallels Hosea's claim that God 'gave you a king' as a response that carries judgment.
- Hosea 8:4 (allusion): Earlier in Hosea the prophet denounces kings set up 'not by me'; this internal echo links Hosea's critique of illegitimate monarchy to 13:11's charge that kingship was part of Israel's sin and divine anger.
- 1 Samuel 15:28-29 (thematic): Samuel declares that the LORD has 'torn the kingdom' from Saul—an image of God removing a king as punishment that parallels Hosea's language of taking away the king in wrath.
- 2 Kings 17:18 (thematic): God's fury leads him to remove Israel from his presence and deliver them to Assyria. The motif of divine anger resulting in the removal of rulers/kingdoms echoes Hosea 13:11's giving and taking of a king as punitive action.
Alternative generated candidates
- I will give you a king in my anger, and take him away in my wrath.
- I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.
Hos.13.12 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- צרור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אפרים: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- צפונה: ADV
- חטאתו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRSFX,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Hosea 10:1-2 (thematic): Uses the vine/fruit imagery to describe Israel/Ephraim’s prosperity turned to judgement; like 13:12, increased sin brings divine pruning and loss of fruitfulness.
- Isaiah 5:1-7 (thematic): The vineyard/song metaphor: God’s care yields wild/rotten fruit and so judgment follows — parallels the image of a people whose root is corrupt and who bear no fruit.
- Jeremiah 2:21 (verbal): Jeremiah’s vine metaphor (a choice vine turned degenerate) verbalizes the same idea of Israel’s corrupt root and loss of the life God intended, echoing Ephraim’s sin and fruitlessness.
- Psalm 80:8-16 (thematic): Speaks of Israel as a vine transplanted by God that is ravaged and withers — similar root/fruit and divine-protection-turned-abandonment motifs found in Hosea 13:12.
- Hosea 9:17 (structural): Another passage within Hosea that depicts Ephraim’s fate (smitten/removed) and links Ephraim’s sin to national disaster, providing an internal prophetic parallel to 13:12’s declaration of bound guilt and judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- Ephraim’s guilt is bound up; his sin is stored away.
- Ephraim is bound up in his guilt; his sin is kept in store.
Hos.13.13 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- חבלי: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- יולדה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יבאו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- בן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- חכם: ADJ,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- עת: NOUN,f,sg,cons
- לא: PART_NEG
- יעמד: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- במשבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בנים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 13:8 (verbal): Uses the image of a people in labor pains to portray coming judgment — similar childbirth/tribulation imagery as Hosea’s 'labor pangs' at the time of calamity.
- Isaiah 26:17-18 (thematic): Speaks of a nation like a woman in travail who cannot bring forth deliverance — parallels Hosea's motif of travail imagery to indicate inability to stand or be saved in distress.
- Jeremiah 4:31 (thematic): Describes the sound and anguish 'as of a woman in travail' at impending disaster; echoes the prophetic trope of childbirth pains to portray national collapse and inability to endure.
- Jeremiah 30:6-7 (verbal): Uses the question of travail and the coming 'day of trouble' when none can stand — closely parallels Hosea’s coupling of labor-pain imagery with failure to stand in the day of calamity.
- Matthew 7:24-27 (structural): Christ’s contrast of the wise and foolish builders — the foolish house 'fell' when the storms came — parallels Hosea’s warning that an unwise son will not stand in the day of distress.
Alternative generated candidates
- Labor pains come upon him, yet he is a child and lacks sense; when the time comes he will not stand—on the day of crisis he will fail.
- Labor pains shall come upon him—he is an unwise son; when the time comes he will not stand in the breach, and in the day of delivery there shall be no strength.
Hos.13.14 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מיד: PREP
- שאול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אפדם: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- ממות: PREP,NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אגאלם: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg+PRON,3,m,pl
- אהי: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- דבריך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+2ms
- מות: VERB,qal,infabs
- אהי: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- קטבך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- שאול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נחם: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יסתר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מעיני: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs+PRON,1,sg
Parallels
- 1 Corinthians 15:55 (quotation): Paul echoes Hosea's taunt to Death/Sheol—'O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?'—using the OT language to proclaim Christ's victory over death.
- Psalm 49:15 (verbal): Speaks of God ransoming the psalmist from Sheol ('God will ransom my life from the grave'), closely paralleling Hosea's claim of ransoming/ redeeming from death's power.
- Isaiah 25:8 (thematic): Proclaims God will 'swallow up death forever' and wipe away tears—a parallel theme of divine triumph over death and the defeat of the power of Sheol.
- Revelation 1:18 (thematic): Jesus' claim 'I died, and behold I am alive ... and I have the keys of Death and Hades' echoes Hosea's motif of God's dominion over death and Sheol, showing the ultimate fulfillment in Christ.
Alternative generated candidates
- From the hand of Sheol I will redeem them; from death I will ransom them. O Death, I will be your plague; O Sheol, I will be your destruction—relief shall be hidden from my eyes.
- From the power of Sheol I will ransom them; from death I will redeem them. O Death, I will be your plague; O Sheol, I will be your destruction—repentance is hidden from my eyes.
Hos.13.15 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- בן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אחים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יפריא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יבוא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- קדים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- רוח: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ממדבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,const
- עלה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ויבוש: CONJ+VERB,qal,imprf,3,m,sg
- מקורו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- ויחרב: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- מעינו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- ישסה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אוצר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כל: DET
- כלי: NOUN,m,pl,const
- חמדה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Exodus 10:13 (verbal): God 'made an east wind to blow' (Exodus) — the same image of an east wind from the wilderness as an instrument of YHWH's action appears in Hosea 13:15.
- Psalm 78:26 (verbal): Psalm 78 recounts God sending an east wind from heaven — a parallel verbal/traditional motif of divine winds used to effect judgment or deliverance.
- Nahum 1:4 (thematic): Nahum depicts the LORD rebuking the sea and drying up rivers — thematically parallel to Hosea's language of springs/fountains being dried up by the Lord's wind.
- Ezekiel 7:19-20 (thematic): Ezekiel 7 speaks of silver and treasures being useless and cast away in the day of wrath — parallels Hosea's image of plundering 'the treasure of all precious vessels' as part of divine judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind shall come—the wind of the LORD shall rise from the wilderness; his spring shall dry up, his fountain shall be parched. He shall plunder every store of precious vessels.
- Though he is now a prince among his brothers, an east wind shall come—the blast of the LORD from the wilderness. It shall come and dry his fountain; it shall strip his treasury, and he shall plunder every precious vessel.
When Ephraim speaks there is trembling; he is exalted in Israel, yet he becomes guilty through Baal and dies. And now they continue to sin; they make for themselves molten images from their silver—graven images, the work of craftsmen. All of them say of them, 'These are our offerings'; calves will be their portion.
Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud and like the early dew that vanishes; like chaff driven by the wind, like smoke out of a chimney.
Yet I am the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; you shall know no god but me—there is no savior besides me.
I knew you in the wilderness, in a land of drought.
Like those who feed and are satisfied they grew arrogant; they were filled and their heart was exalted—therefore they forgot me.
I will be to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the road to Assyria.
I will meet them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast and there devour them—like a lion I will rend them, the wild beast shall tear them.
O Israel, you are ruined; you act against the one who is your helper.
Shall I be your king then and save you in all your cities? Your judges—'Give me a king and princes,' you said.
I will give you a king in my anger, and I will take him away in my wrath.
Ephraim’s iniquity is bound up; his sin is stored up.
When the pangs of labor come upon him he is but a child; he is a senseless son—at the time of distress he will not stand.
From the hand of Sheol I will redeem them, from death I will ransom them. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Mercy is hidden from my eyes.
Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind from the LORD shall come, the breath of the LORD from the wilderness; it will dry up his spring and waste his fountain, and he shall plunder the treasury of every precious vessel.