Limitless Word
One thing is certain, Israel: On your day of punishment, you will become a heap of rubble.
Hosea 5:9 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be.
  • KJV Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
  • BSB Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.
  • NKJV Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
  • NASB Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is trustworthy.

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

Ephraim will be laid desolate in the day of God's rebuke, a certain and announced judgment. What God has declared will surely come to pass.

Overview

God promises that Ephraim, the northern kingdom, will become a wasteland when the day of reckoning arrives. By saying He has 'made known that which will surely be,' God stresses the certainty and reliability of His prophetic word. The verse assures readers that divine judgment is neither arbitrary nor empty; what God foretells against persistent sin will inevitably be fulfilled.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Hos 9:11–17As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, no one with child, and no conception.
  • Isa 46:10I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.
  • Zech 1:6But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’”
  • John 16:4But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
  • Isa 28:1–4Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine!
  • Isa 37:3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to give birth.
  • Hos 8:8Israel is swallowed up. Now they are among the nations like a worthless thing.
  • Hos 13:1–3When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but when he became guilty in Baal, he died.
  • Hos 5:14For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.
  • Hos 11:5–6“They won’t return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian will be their king, because they refused to repent.
  • Hos 13:15–16Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.
  • Amos 3:7Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
  • Amos 7:17Therefore Yahweh says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’”
  • Hos 5:12Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness.
  • Isa 48:3I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened.
  • Isa 48:5therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them.’
  • Amos 3:14–15“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground.
  • Amos 7:9The 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.”
  • Job 12:14Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

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 5:9YouTube · 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 5:9 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.