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So Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness. At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed.
Hosea 10:15 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
  • BSB Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day dawns, the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.
  • NKJV Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, Because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel Shall be cut off utterly.
  • NASB So it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.
  • NLT You will share that fate, Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day of judgment dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Because of Israel's great wickedness, especially its corrupt worship at Bethel, its king will be cut off at daybreak. It shows that idolatry brings swift and certain downfall.

Overview

Bethel, once a place of patriarchal encounter with God, had become a center of calf-worship and is here singled out as the source of judgment. The sudden destruction of the king "at daybreak" emphasizes how quickly and decisively God's judgment can fall. Israel's chosen leadership cannot save them when they have abandoned the Lord.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Hos 10:5The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; for its people will mourn over it, Along with its priests who rejoiced over it, for its glory, because it has departed from it.
  • Rom 7:13Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.
  • Amos 7:9–17The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
  • Hos 10:7Samaria and her king float away, like a twig on the water.
  • Hos 10:3Surely now they will say, “We have no king; for we don’t fear Yahweh; and the king, what can he do for us?”
  • Isa 16:14But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Hosea videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Hosea 10:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on HoseaMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.

How Hosea 10:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.