Hosea 10:8
New International Version
The high places of wickedness will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

New Living Translation
And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble. Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars. They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!” and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”

English Standard Version
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

Berean Standard Bible
The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

King James Bible
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

New King James Version
Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, Shall be destroyed. The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars; They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

New American Standard Bible
Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; Thorns and thistles will grow on their altars; Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

NASB 1995
Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars; Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

NASB 1977
Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars, Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Legacy Standard Bible
Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be eradicated; Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars; Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Amplified Bible
Also the high places of Aven (Beth-aven), the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; The thorn and the thistle will grow on their [pagan] altars, And [in despair] they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Christian Standard Bible
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; thorns and thistles will grow over their altars. They will say to the mountains, “Cover us! ” and to the hills, “Fall on us! ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; thorns and thistles will grow over their altars. They will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

American Standard Version
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the idol shrines of Awan, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed . Thorns and thistles shall grow in their altars and they will say to the mountains: "Cover us”, and to the hills, that they would fall upon them

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the altars of On, the sins of Israel, shall be taken away: thorns and thistles shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

Contemporary English Version
The altars at sinful Bethel will be destroyed for causing Israel to sin; they will be grown over with thorns and thistles. Then everyone will beg the mountains and hills to cover and protect them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the high places of the idol, the sin of Israel shall be destroyed: the bur and the thistle shall grow up over their altars: and they shall say to the mountains: Cover us; and to the hills: Fall upon us.

English Revised Version
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The illegal worship sites of Aven will be destroyed. Israel sins there. Thorns and weeds will grow over those altars. People will say to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall on us!"

Good News Translation
The hilltop shrines of Aven, where the people of Israel worship idols, will be destroyed. Thorns and weeds will grow up over their altars. The people will call out to the mountains, "Hide us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"

International Standard Version
Destroyed will be the high places of Aven, that are the sin of Israel. Both thorn and thistle will grow up over their altars. They will call out to the mountains, 'Cover us!' and to the hills, 'Fall on us!'

JPS Tanakh 1917
The high places also of Aven shall be destroyed, Even the sin of Israel. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; And they shall say to the mountains: 'Cover us', And to the hills: 'Fall on us.'

Literal Standard Version
And high places of Aven have been destroyed, the sin of Israel. Thorn and bramble go up on their altars, | And they have said to hills, Cover us, | And to heights, Fall on us.

Majority Standard Bible
The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

New American Bible
The high places of Aven will be destroyed, the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will cry out to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall upon us!”

NET Bible
The high places of the "House of Wickedness" will be destroyed; it is the place where Israel sins. Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars. Then they will say to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall on us!"

New Revised Standard Version
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars. They shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us.

New Heart English Bible
The high places also of Beth Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will grow on their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us," and to the hills, "Cover us."

Webster's Bible Translation
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

World English Bible
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!”

Young's Literal Translation
And destroyed have been high places of Aven, the sin of Israel. Thorn and bramble go up on their altars, And they have said to hills, Cover us, And to heights, Fall upon us.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Retribution for Israel's Sin
7Samaria will be carried off with her king like a twig on the surface of the water. 8The high places of Aven will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!” 9Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not the battle in Gibeah overtake the sons of iniquity?…

Cross References
Luke 23:30
At that time 'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"'

Revelation 6:16
And they said to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

Genesis 3:8
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

1 Kings 12:28
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, "Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

1 Kings 13:34
And this was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its extermination and destruction from the face of the earth.

Isaiah 2:19
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

Isaiah 32:13
and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers--even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.


Treasury of Scripture

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

high places.

Hosea 10:5
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.

Hosea 4:15
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.

Hosea 5:8
Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.

the sin.

Deuteronomy 9:21
And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

1 Kings 12:28-30
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt…

1 Kings 13:34
And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

the thorn.

Hosea 9:6
For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

Isaiah 32:13
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:

Isaiah 34:13
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.

their altars.

1 Kings 13:2
And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

2 Kings 23:15
Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.

2 Chronicles 31:1
Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

they shall.

Isaiah 2:19
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

Luke 23:30
Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

Revelation 6:16
And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

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Hosea 10
1. Israel is reproved and threatened for their impiety and idolatry,
12. and exhorted to repentance.














(8) Aven.--On Beth-Aven, see Note on Hosea 4:15. The "thorn and thistle" are part of the first curse upon apostate Adam (Genesis 3:18), and the prophet not only predicts utter ruin for king and calf, temple and shrine, but the future desolation which should conceal all. Meanwhile, the people shall desire death rather than life. The awful words in the latter part of this verse are used by our Lord concerning the terrors of the impenitent in the fall of Jerusalem (Luke 23:30), and twice by St. John (Revelation 6:16; Revelation 9:6), to denote the extremity of despair.

Verse 8. - The high places also of Avon, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. By Aven is generally understood Beth-aven, that is, Bethel; but some take the word as an appellative, and thus bamoth-aven would signify the "high places of iniquity." These unlawful places of sacrifice and unholy places of iniquity are further characterized by the appositional "the sin of Israel." By constructing and frequenting such places Israel had primarily and grievously sinned. By sacrificing to and worshipping even Jehovah on these high places instead of in Jerusalem, the only legal place for Divine service under the Law, their national sin in the matter of worship began; subsequently, however, things became worse, and these high places became scenes of most abominable idolatries and shamelessly sinful practices. Those places - one and all - are in the words before us doomed to destruction. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars. The destruction is thus vividly described as total and complete; those bad eminences were devoted to entire wasteness and desolation. "It is a sign of extreme solitude," says Jerome, "so that no traces even of wall or buildings remained to be seen;" similarly Rashi says, "Thorns and thistles shall grow up upon their altars, because the worshippers thereof have departed and no one longer remains to attend to them" so Kimchi: "On the altars of Israel which they (the enemies) shall lay waste shall thorns spring up." And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. The sight of such fearful ruin and desolation overwhelms the wretched inhabitants of the land with distress and dismay; in sheer despair and even desperation they invoke a sure and sudden death as much preferable to their remaining longer spectators of such heart-rending scenes. Their exclamation appears to be proverbial, and to have had its origin in the custom of the Israelites fleeing, in seasons of great calamities, to the mountains and clefts of the rocks to hide themselves; thus in Judges 4:2 we read that "because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and eaves, and strongholds." The object of their exclamation is to be buried under the hills or mountains rather than endure such calamities longer; or rather than the enemies should see them in their shame. Aben Ezra makes "altars" the subject of "shall say," as if it were the wish of the altars to be covered that they may never more be seen. Theodoret considers the sense of the passage to be that the multitude of calamities in the war occasioned by hostile invasion would be so great that there would be no one who would not prefer being overwhelmed in an earthquake or by the sudden fall of the mountains, rather than endure the calamities inflicted by the enemies. Similarly, but more concisely, Jerome says, "They are more willing to die than see the evils that bring death."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The high places
בָּמ֣וֹת (bā·mō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 1116: An elevation

of Aven,
אָ֗וֶן (’ā·wen)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 205: Strictly nothingness, trouble, vanity, wickedness, an idol

the sin
חַטַּאת֙ (ḥaṭ·ṭaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 2403: An offence, its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, expiation, an offender

of Israel,
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

will be destroyed;
וְנִשְׁמְד֞וּ (wə·niš·mə·ḏū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Nifal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 8045: To be exterminated or destroyed

thorns
ק֣וֹץ (qō·wṣ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6975: A thorn, thornbush

and thistles
וְדַרְדַּ֔ר (wə·ḏar·dar)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1863: Thistles

will grow
יַעֲלֶ֖ה (ya·‘ă·leh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5927: To ascend, in, actively

over
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

their altars.
מִזְבְּחוֹתָ֑ם (miz·bə·ḥō·w·ṯām)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 4196: An altar

Then they will say
וְאָמְר֤וּ (wə·’ā·mə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to the mountains,
לֶֽהָרִים֙ (le·hā·rîm)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2022: Mountain, hill, hill country

“Cover us!”
כַּסּ֔וּנוּ (kas·sū·nū)
Verb - Piel - Imperative - masculine plural | first person common plural
Strong's 3680: To plump, fill up hollows, to cover

and to the hills,
וְלַגְּבָע֖וֹת (wə·lag·gə·ḇā·‘ō·wṯ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 1389: A hillock

“Fall
נִפְל֥וּ (nip̄·lū)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 5307: To fall, lie

on us!”
עָלֵֽינוּ׃ (‘ā·lê·nū)
Preposition | first person common plural
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against


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OT Prophets: Hosea 10:8 The high places also of Aven (Ho Hs Hos.)
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