Hosea 6:4

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth early away.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

מָ֤ה אֶֽעֱשֶׂה־לְּךָ֙ אֶפְרַ֔יִם מָ֥ה אֶעֱשֶׂה־לְּךָ֖ יְהוּדָ֑ה וְחַסְדְּכֶם֙ כַּֽעֲנַן־בֹּ֔קֶר וְכַטַּ֖ל מַשְׁכִּ֥ים הֹלֵֽךְ׃

Transliteration

What ʾe'ĕśeh-to-you ʾep̄rayim, what ʾe'ĕśeh-to-you yәhûḏāh? And-ḥasdәḵem like-'ănan-bōqer and-like-the-ṭal maškîm hōlēḵ

Grammar Details

• *ʾe'ĕśeh*: imperfect, 1st person singular - I shall do
• *ʾep̄rayim*: proper noun - Ephraim
• *yәhûḏāh*: proper noun - Judah
• *ḥasdәḵem*: noun + 2nd person masculine plural suffix - your loyalty/devotion
• *'ănan*: construct noun, masculine singular - cloud of
• *bōqer*: noun, masculine singular - morning
• *ṭal*: noun, masculine singular - dew
• *maškîm*: Hiphil participle, masculine singular - rising early
• *hōlēḵ*: Qal participle, masculine singular - going/disappearing

Word Meanings

• *ḥasdәḵem*: your loyalty/your faithfulness/your loving-kindness/your covenant faithfulness
• *'ănan*: cloud/mist
• *maškîm*: early-rising/early-appearing
• *hōlēḵ*: goes away/disappears/departs

Referenced Verses

• Hos 11:8 : 8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? [how] shall I cast thee off, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? [how] shall I set thee as Zeboiim? my heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together.
• Hos 13:3 : 3 Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
• Ps 78:34-37 : 34 When he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly. 35 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their redeemer. 36 But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto him with their tongue. 37 For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant.
• Ps 106:12-13 : 12 Then believed they his words; They sang his praise. 13 They soon forgat his works; They waited not for his counsel,
• Isa 5:3-4 : 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
• Jer 3:10 : 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah.
• Jer 3:19 : 19 But I said, How I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.
• Jer 5:7 : 7 How can I pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses.
• Jer 5:9 : 9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
• Jer 5:23 : 23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
• Jer 9:7 : 7 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how [else] should I do, because of the daughter of my people?
• Jer 34:15 : 15 And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in mine eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:
• Matt 13:21 : 21 yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while; and when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway he stumbleth.
• Luke 13:7-9 : 7 And he said unto the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it also cumber the ground? 8 And he answering saith unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till {G3755} I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9 and if {G3303} it bear fruit thenceforth, [well]; but if not, {G1519} {G3195} thou shalt cut it down.
• Luke 19:41-42 : 41 And when he drew nigh, he saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, If thou hadst known in this {G4675} day, even thou, the things which belong unto {G4675} peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
• 2 Pet 2:20-22 : 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. 21 For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 {G1161} It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.
• Judg 2:18-19 : 18 And when Jehovah raised them up judges, then Jehovah was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented Jehovah because of their groaning by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. 19 But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.
• Hos 7:1 : 1 When I would heal Israel, then is the iniquity of Ephraim uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief entereth in, and the troop of robbers ravageth without.