Hosea 5:12

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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood.

Context of Hosea 5:12

10Judah’s leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water. 11Ephraim is oppressed, trampled in judgment, intent on pursuing idols. I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah. 13“When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sores, then Ephraim turned to Assyria, and sent to the great king for help. But he is not able to cure you, not able to heal your sores. 14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away; I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them.

Hosea 5:12 word by word

וַאֲנִ֥י כָעָ֖שׁ לְאֶפְרָ֑יִם וְכָרָקָ֖ב לְבֵ֥ית יְהוּדָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• unto Ephraimאֶפְרַ֫יִם'ephrayim · EphraimH669
• as a mothעָשׁ‛âsh ‛ăsab · mothH6211
• and to the houseבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: householdH1004
• of Judahיְהוּדָהyehûdâh · JudahH3063
• as rottennessרָקָבrâqâb · rottennessH7538

Cross-references for Hosea 5:12

• Job 13:28“So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.
• Isaiah 50:9It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
• Isaiah 51:8For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”
• Proverbs 12:4A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.
• Jonah 4:7But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed 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

• Backsliders
• Moth

In the dictionaries

• Ephraim
• Judah
• Moth
• Profound
• Rebuke
• Calf, Golden
• Hosea
• Zechariah, Book of

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