Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Hosea 8:11 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 11. 11Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse states that multiplied altars intended for sacrifice become altars for sin.
Read It With
- Hosea 8:8-14
Read Hosea 8:11 with 8:8-14. This verse states that multiplied altars intended for sacrifice become altars for sin. The complete unit establishes this movement: Israel's attempts to buy international support deepen subjection; multiplied altars become occasions for sin, written instruction is treated as foreign, and religious feasting, palaces, and defenses cannot prevent judgment.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The unit shows how external policy, worship, instruction, consumption, architecture, and defense become one estrangement pattern. Within that movement, this verse states that multiplied altars intended for sacrifice become altars for sin.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“altars ... to sin”
In plain language: cultic abundance transformed into repeated occasion for wrong
states that multiplied altars intended for sacrifice become altars for sin. Religious multiplication can enlarge the very failure it is meant to address.
Why it matters: The wording identifies this verse's distinct contribution to the complete unit.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Religious multiplication can enlarge the very failure it is meant to address.
How It Can Shape Life
- Measure ministries and worship sites by truthful fruit rather than number.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Hosea 8:8-14 — Assyrian Bargains, Multiplied Altars, and Estranged Instruction End in FireSources 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 8:8-14, 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, 8:8-14
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. 1688-1689, translation and notes on 8:8-14
Open source ↗