Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Hosea 13:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse compares the people with morning cloud, early dew, wind-driven chaff, and chimney smoke.
Read It With
- Hosea 13:1-8
Read Hosea 13:3 with 13:1-8. This verse compares the people with morning cloud, early dew, wind-driven chaff, and chimney smoke. The complete unit establishes this movement: Ephraim's prestige collapses through Baal and crafted worship; the LORD alone saved from Egypt and knew Israel in drought, but satisfied pride forgot, so judgment is pictured through terrifying predators.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The unit retells Israel's rise, provision, pride, forgetting, and collapse, placing exclusive exodus allegiance against crafted substitutes. Within that movement, this verse compares the people with morning cloud, early dew, wind-driven chaff, and chimney smoke.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“morning cloud ... early dew”
In plain language: a repeated Hosea image of rapid disappearance
compares the people with morning cloud, early dew, wind-driven chaff, and chimney smoke. Status built on false worship disappears quickly and leaves no stable nourishment.
Why it matters: The wording identifies this verse's distinct contribution to the complete unit.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Status built on false worship disappears quickly and leaves no stable nourishment.
How It Can Shape Life
- Build durable faithfulness rather than visibility that evaporates.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Hosea 13:1-8 — Baal, Handmade Calves, Satisfied Pride, and Forgotten Exodus Lead to Predator ImagesSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Hosea 13:1-8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Hosea
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew, morphology, syntax, names, wordplay, repetitions, and the base text for translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Hos.xml, 13:1-8
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Hosea with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, textual, grammatical, historical, rhetorical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Hosea PDF, printed pp. 1695, translation and notes on 13:1-8
Open source ↗