Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness.
- BSB So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
- NKJV Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth, And to the house of Judah like rottenness.
- NASB Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim, And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
- NLT I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood.
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 will be like a moth to Ephraim and like rot to Judah, slowly wasting them away. Their decay will be quiet but certain.
Overview
The images of a consuming moth and creeping rottenness depict a judgment that works gradually but inexorably, eating away at the nations from within. Rather than a single dramatic blow, God describes a slow, steady decay that exposes the people's inner corruption. The verse warns that the consequences of sin often unfold quietly over time, and it sets the stage for the call to repentance that follows, where the only remedy is to return to the Lord who alone can heal.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 51:8For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
- Jonah 4:7But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
- Job 13:28And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
- Isa 50:9Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
- Mark 9:43–48And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
- Prov 12:4A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
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 5:12 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.