For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.
- BSB For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn heifer. Can the LORD now shepherd them like lambs in an open meadow?
- NKJV “For Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the Lord will let them forage Like a lamb in open country.
- NASB Since Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn cow, Will the Lord now pasture them Like a lamb in a large field?
- NLT Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. So should the Lord feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture?
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
Israel is as stubborn as an unruly heifer, so she cannot be gently shepherded. Her obstinacy hinders the blessing God would give.
Overview
The image of a stubborn heifer refusing the yoke captures Israel's persistent rebellion against God's guidance. Because she will not submit, she cannot be led like a lamb to safe pasture. The verse exposes the willfulness at the heart of Israel's sin and implies that her own hardness, not any failure in God, stands in the way of the care He longs to provide.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 1 Sam 15:11It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
- Jer 7:24But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
- Zech 7:11But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
- Jer 3:6The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
- Jer 3:8And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
- Lev 26:33And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
- Isa 22:18He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house.
- Isa 5:17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
- Jer 3:11And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
- Jer 14:7O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
- Jer 8:5Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
- Isa 7:21–25And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;
- Hos 11:7And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
- Jer 5:6Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
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 4:16 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.