Hosea 10:8

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
places	בָּמ֣וֹת ba.Mot	H1116	an elevation · noun, common feminine plural construct
Aven	אָ֗וֶן 'A.ven	H206	Aven · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sin	חַטַּאת֙ cha.taT	H2403	an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · noun, common feminine singular construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
destroyed	וְנִשְׁמְד֞וּ ve.nish.me.Du	H8045	to desolate · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
thorn	ק֣וֹץ Kotz	H6975	a thorn · noun, common masculine singular absolute
thistle	וְדַרְדַּ֔ר ve.dar.Dar	H1863	a thorn · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
up	יַעֲלֶ֖ה ya.'a.Leh	H5927	to ascend · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
altars	מִזְבְּחוֹתָ֑ם miz.be.cho.Tam	H4196	an altar · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
say	וְאָמְר֤וּ ve.'a.me.Ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
mountains	לֶֽהָרִים֙ le.ha.Rim	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Cover	כַּסּ֔וּנוּ ka.Su.nu	H3680	properly · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
hills	וְלַגְּבָע֖וֹת ve.la.ge.va.'ot	H1389	a hillock · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
Fall	נִפְל֥וּ nif.Lu	H5307	to fall · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Revelation 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb…
Luke 23:30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.
Isaiah 2:19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when…
1 Kings 12:28-30 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy g…
Isaiah 32:13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
Hosea 9:6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, ne…
Amos 8:14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and neve…
Deuteronomy 9:21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as smal…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hosea 10:1-8

Observe, I. What the sins are which are here laid to Israel's charge, the national sins which bring down national judgment. The prophet deals plainly with them; for what good would it do them to be flattered? 1. They were not fruitful in the fruits of righteousness to the glory of God. Here all their other wickedness began (Hos 10:1): Israel is an empty vine. The church of God is fitly compared to a vine, weak, and of an unpromising outside, yet spreading and fruitful; believers are branches of that vine, and partake of its root and fatness. But this was the character of Israel, they were as an empty vine, a vine that had no sap or virtue in it, and therefore none of those good fruits produc…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Hosea 10:8

Aven--that is, Beth-aven. the sin--that is, the occasion of sin (Deu 9:21; Kg1 12:30). they shall say to . . . mountains, Cover us--So terrible shall be the calamity, that men shall prefer death to life (Luk 23:30; Rev 6:16; Rev 9:6). Those very hills on which were their idolatrous altars (one source of their confidence, as their "king," Hos 10:7, was the other), so far from helping them, shall be called on by them to overwhelm them.

Adam Clarke on Hosea 10:8

The high-places - Idol temples. Of Aven - Beth-aven. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars - Owing to the uncultivated and unfrequented state of the land, and of their places of idol worship, the people being all carried away into captivity. "And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, And to the hills, Fall on us." "This sublime description of fear and distress our Lord had in view, Luk 23:30, which may be a reference, and not a quotation. However, the Septuagint, in the Codex Alexandrinus, has the same order of words as occurs in the evangelist. The parallelism makes the passages more beautiful than Rev 6:16; and Isa 2:19 wants the animated dramatic form. That there is…

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John Gill on Hosea 10:8

Dictionary and topics

Aven — Nothingness; vanity. (1.) Hosea speaks of the “high places of Aven” (10:8), by which he means Bethel. He also calls it Beth-aven, i.e., “the house of vanity” (4:15), on account of the golden calves…
Bethel — House of God. (1.) A place in Central Palestine, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai. It was originally the royal Canaanite city of Luz (Gen. 28:19). The…
Harrow — (Heb. harits), a tribulum or sharp threshing sledge; a frame armed on the under side with rollers or sharp spikes (2 Sam. 12:31; 1 Chr. 20:3). Heb. verb sadad, to harrow a field, break its clods (Job…
Hosea, Prophecies of — This book stands first in order among the “Minor Prophets.” “The probable cause of the location of Hosea may be the thoroughly national character of his oracles, their length, their earnest tone, and…
Thistle — (1.) Heb. hoah (2 Kings 14:9; Job 31:40). In Job 41:2 the Hebrew word is rendered “thorn,” but in the Revised Version “hook.” It is also rendered “thorn” in 2 Chr. 33:11; Prov. 26:9; Cant. 2:2;…
Thorn — (1.) Heb. hedek (Prov. 15:19), rendered “brier” in Micah 7:4. Some thorny plant, of the Solanum family, suitable for hedges. This is probably the so-called “apple of Sodom,” which grows very…
Aven · 3. BETH-AVEN — 3. BETH-AVEN
Calves Of Jeroboam · Predictions respecting: Destruction — Predictions respecting: Destruction
Despondency · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
High Places · Mentioned in scripture: Aven — Mentioned in scripture: Aven
Thistle · A noxious plant — A noxious plant

Hosea 10:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hosea 10:1-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Hosea 10:8

Adam Clarke on Hosea 10:8

John Gill on Hosea 10:8

Dictionary and topics

Hosea 10:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Hosea 10:1-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Hosea 10:8

Adam Clarke on Hosea 10:8

John Gill on Hosea 10:8

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Hosea 10:8

Keil & Delitzsch on Hosea 10:7-8

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Hosea 10:8

Rashi on Hosea 10:8