Hosea 5 · Verse 12

Hosea 5:12

Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
Hosea 5:12, King James Version

Hosea 5:12 in other translations

BSBSo I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
WEBTherefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness.
ASVTherefore am I unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
YLTAnd I am as a moth to Ephraim, And as a rotten thing to the house of Judah.
DARBYAnd I will be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
BBEAnd so to Ephraim I am like a wasting insect, and a destruction to the children of Judah.
WebsterTherefore will I be to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

What does Hosea 5:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
12. as a moth--consuming a garment (Job 13:28; Psa 39:11; Is 50:9). Judah ... rottenness--Ephraim, or the ten tribes, are as a garment eaten by the moth; Judah as the body itself consumed by rottenness (Pr 12:4). Perhaps alluding to the superiority of the latter in having the house of David, and the temple, the religious center of the nation [Grotius]. As in Ho 5:13, 14, the violence of the calamity is prefigured by the "wound" which "a lion" inflicts, so here its long protracted duration, and the certainty and completeness of the destruction from small unforeseen beginnings, by the images of a slowly but surely consuming moth and rottenness.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 12 Unto Ephraim as a moth - I will consume them by little and little, as a moth frets a garment.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Hosea 5:8-15

The destruction of impenitent sinners is not mere talk, to frighten them, it is a sentence which will not be recalled. And it is a mercy that we have timely warning given us, that we may flee from the wrath to come. Compliance with the commandments of men, who thwart the commandments of God, ripens a people for ruin. The judgments of God are sometimes to a sinful people as a moth, and as rottenness, or as a worm; as…

Read the full comment on Hosea 5:8-15 →

Hosea 5:12 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַאֲנִ֥יva.'a.Niand IH589
כָעָ֖שׁkha.'Ash[am] like <the> mothH6211
לְאֶפְרָ֑יִםle.'ef.Ra.yimto EphraimH669
וְכָרָקָ֖בve.kha.ra.Kavand like <the> rottennessH7538
לְבֵ֥יתle.Veitto [the] house ofH1004
יְהוּדָֽה\׃ye.hu.DahJudahH3063

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Hosea 5:12

  • Isaiah 51:8

    For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

  • Jonah 4:7

    But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

  • Job 13:28

    And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

  • Isaiah 50:9

    Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

  • Proverbs 12:4

    A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.

  • Mark 9:43-48

    And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
as a.
Job 13:28; Isa 50:9; 51:8
as.
Pr 12:4
rottenness. or, a worm.
Jon 4:7; Mr 9:44-48

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Hosea 5:11

    Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.

  • Hosea 5:12

    Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

  • Hosea 5:13

    When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.

Read all of Hosea 5

Hosea 5:12 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Yo pues seré como polilla á Ephraim, y como carcoma á la casa de Judá.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		et moi, je serai comme une teigne pour Éphraïm, et comme de la vermoulure pour la maison de Juda.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und ich werde für Ephraim wie die Motte sein, und für das Haus Juda wie der Wurmfraß.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et ego quasi tinea Ephraim, et quasi putredo domui Juda.