God’s Word Translation
Hosea 5:12
12I will destroy Ephraim as a moth destroys clothing. I will destroy the nation of Judah as rot destroys wood.
Hosea 5:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
- New International Version (NIV)I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah.
- English Standard Version (ESV)But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth, And to the house of Judah like rottenness.
Context of Hosea 5:12
10The leaders of Judah are like those who move boundary markers. I will pour my fury on them like water. 11Ephraim is oppressed—crushed by punishment, because its people are determined to chase idols. I will destroy Ephraim as a moth destroys clothing. I will destroy the nation of Judah as rot destroys wood. 13“When Ephraim saw that he was sick and when Judah saw his own wounds, Ephraim went to Assyria to ask the great king for help. But the king couldn’t cure them or heal their wounds. 14I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the nation of Judah. I will carry ⌞them⌟ off, and no one will rescue ⌞them⌟.
Read all of Hosea 5Hosea 5:12 word by word
וַאֲנִ֥י כָעָ֖שׁ לְאֶפְרָ֑יִם וְכָרָקָ֖ב לְבֵ֥ית יְהוּדָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 5:12
- Job 13:28I am like worn-out wineskins, like moth-eaten clothes.
- Isaiah 50:9The Almighty Lord helps me. Who will find me guilty? They will all wear out like a garment. Moths will eat them.
- Isaiah 51:8Moths will eat them like clothing. Worms will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, and my salvation will last throughout every generation.
- Proverbs 12:4A wife with strength of character is the crown of her husband, but the wife who disgraces him is like bone cancer.
- Jonah 4:7At dawn the next day, God sent a worm to attack the plant so that it withered.
Commentaries on Hosea 5:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Unto Ephraim as a moth - I will consume them by little and little, as a moth frets a garment.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12Therefore I will be unto Ephraim a moth - Literally, “and I as a moth.” This form of speaking expresses what God was doing, while Ephraim was “willingly following” sin. “And I” was all the while “as a moth.” The moth in a garment, and the decay in wood, corrode and prey upon the substance, in which they lie hid, slowly, imperceptibly, but, at the last, effectually. Such were God‘s first judgments on Israel and Judah; such are they now commonly upon…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-15Verses 8-15 The destruction of impenitent sinners is not mere talk, to frighten them, it is a sentence which will not be recalled. And it is a mercy that we have timely warning given us, that we may flee from the wrath to come. Compliance with the commandments of men, who thwart the commandments of God, ripens a people for ruin. The judgments of God are sometimes to a sinful people as a moth, and as rottenness, or as a worm; as these consume the clothes…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12a moth … decay: Sin can slowly weaken a people at their core, and they may not realize the damage until it is already done.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. as a moth--consuming a garment (Job 13:28; Psa 39:11; Is 50:9). Judah ... rottenness--Ephraim, or the ten tribes, are as a garment eaten by the moth; Judah as the body itself consumed by rottenness (Pr 12:4). Perhaps alluding to the superiority of the latter in having the house of David, and the temple, the religious center of the nation [Grotius]. As in Ho 5:13, 14, the violence of the calamity is prefigured by the "wound" which "a lion" inflicts, so…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 5:12
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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