I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: There is the harlotry of Ephraim; Israel is defiled.
Parallel translations
- WEB In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.
- KJV I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
- BSB In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled.
- NASB In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s infidelity is there, Israel has defiled itself.
- NLT Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel: My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!
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
In Israel's house God has seen a horrible thing: Ephraim's spiritual prostitution has defiled the whole nation.
Overview
God describes Israel's idolatry as spiritual harlotry that has rendered the nation defiled and abhorrent in His sight. The word "horrible" conveys God's revulsion at covenant betrayal dressed up in religious forms. Such defilement can only be cleansed by the gospel, where Christ purifies an unfaithful people to present them as His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Hos 5:3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled.
- Ezek 23:5“Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,
- Jer 5:30–31“An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
- Jer 23:14In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”
- 2 Kgs 17:7It was so because the children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
- Jer 18:13Therefore Yahweh says: “Ask now among the nations, who has heard such things. The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
- Jer 3:6Moreover, 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.
- 1 Kgs 12:8But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
- Jer 2:12–13“Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate,” says Yahweh.
- 1 Kgs 15:30for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and with which he made Israel to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger.
- Hos 4:17Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone!
- Hos 4:11Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
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 6:10 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
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