Let Samaria throw out his calf idol! My anger burns against them! How long will it be until they are capable of purity?
Parallel translations
- KJV Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
- BSB He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?
- NKJV Your calf is rejected, O Samaria! My anger is aroused against them— How long until they attain to innocence?
- NASB He has rejected your calf, Samaria, saying, “My anger burns against them!” How long will they be incapable of innocence?
- NLT “O Samaria, I reject this calf— this idol you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will you be incapable of innocence?
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 rejects Samaria's calf idol, His anger burning, and asks how long until the people become capable of purity.
Overview
The golden calf worship of the northern kingdom is utterly repudiated, kindling God's righteous anger. His question, how long until they can attain innocence, reveals both judgment and a yearning for their cleansing. This longing for a purity Israel cannot achieve points to the gospel, where God Himself provides the cleansing His people need.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 13:27I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?”
- Hos 10:5The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; for its people will mourn over it, Along with its priests who rejoiced over it, for its glory, because it has departed from it.
- Prov 1:22“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
- Acts 7:41They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
- Deut 32:22For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.
- Hos 8:6For this is even from Israel! The workman made it, and it is no God; indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
- Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
- Isa 45:20“Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.
- 2 Kgs 17:21–23For he tore Israel from David’s house; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin.
- 2 Kgs 17:16–18They abandoned all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
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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 8:5 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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