So My people are determined to turn from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.
Parallel translations
- WEB My people are determined to turn from me. Though they call to the Most High, he certainly won’t exalt them.
- KJV And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
- BSB My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.
- NKJV My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him.
- NLT For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me.
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
God's people are stubbornly determined to turn away from him, and their hollow cries will not lift them up. It exposes the persistence of unrepentant hearts.
Overview
Israel is described as bent on backsliding, fixed in its rebellion. Even when they call to the Most High, their cries lack true repentance, so they receive no exaltation. The verse soberly shows that mere religious appeal without heart change does not save.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 8:5Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit, they refuse to return.
- Amos 5:4–6For Yahweh says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;
- Amos 5:14–15Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.
- Jer 3:6–8Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there.
- Prov 14:14The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.
- Hos 7:16They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
- Ps 81:11But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me.
- Ps 78:57–58but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
- Hos 14:4“I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.
- Jer 3:11Yahweh said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
- Hos 11:2They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to engraved images.
- 2 Chr 30:1–11Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to Yahweh’s house at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- Jer 14:7Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you.
- Hos 4:16For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 11:7 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.