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And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.
Hosea 5:2 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I discipline all of them.
  • BSB The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I will chastise them all.
  • NKJV The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter, Though I rebuke them all.
  • NASB And the rebels have gone deep in depravity, But I will discipline all of them.
  • NLT You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia Grove. But I will settle with you for what you have done.

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

The rebels are deeply immersed in their sin, and God declares He will discipline them all. None will escape His corrective hand.

Overview

This verse is textually difficult, but its sense is that the rebellious have plunged deep into wickedness, even to the point of slaughter. God responds by announcing that He will discipline 'all of them,' leaders and people alike. The verse reinforces that no degree of entrenched rebellion is beyond God's notice or His just correction, and that His discipline aims to confront sin rather than ignore it.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • Isa 29:15Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
  • Hos 9:15All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.
  • Hos 6:9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
  • Amos 4:6–12And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
  • Ps 64:3–6Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
  • Luke 22:2–5And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.
  • Jer 11:18–19And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
  • Hos 4:2By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
  • Jer 6:28They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
  • Hos 6:5Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
  • Acts 23:12–15And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
  • Ps 140:1–5Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;
  • Zeph 3:1–2Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
  • Rev 3:19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
  • Jer 18:18Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
  • Isa 1:5Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
  • Jer 5:3O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
  • Jer 25:3–7From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

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 5:2YouTube · 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 5:2 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.