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But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.
Hosea 6:7 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
  • BSB But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.
  • NKJV “But like men they transgressed the covenant; There they dealt treacherously with Me.
  • NASB But like Adam they have violated the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously with Me.
  • NLT But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.

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

Like Adam, the people have broken God's covenant and dealt faithlessly with Him.

Overview

Israel's treachery is compared to a covenant breach, recalling Adam's primal transgression (or, as some translate, breaking covenant "at Adam," a place). Either way, the point is willful, deliberate unfaithfulness to the God who bound Himself to them. The reference to Adam reminds readers that covenant-breaking runs through fallen humanity, and that only the last Adam, Christ, keeps covenant perfectly on our behalf.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Gen 3:11God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
  • Hos 5:7They are unfaithful to Yahweh; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.
  • Hos 8:1“Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over Yahweh’s house, because they have broken my covenant, and rebelled against my law.
  • Job 31:33if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
  • Jer 9:6Your habitation is in the middle of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me,” says Yahweh.
  • 2 Kgs 17:15They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them.
  • Gen 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
  • Ezek 16:59–61“‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
  • Jer 5:11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh.
  • Isa 24:5The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.
  • Jer 3:7I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
  • Jer 31:32not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says Yahweh.
  • Isa 48:8Yes, you didn’t hear; yes, you didn’t know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.
  • Isa 24:16From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs. Glory to the righteous! But I said, “I pine away! I pine away! woe is me!” The treacherous have dealt treacherously. Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.
  • Heb 8:9not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

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 6:7YouTube · 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 6:7 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.