Hosea 10:2 (WEB)

Passage

Their heart is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their altars. He will destroy their sacred stones.

Nearby Context

Hosea 10:1 Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones.

Hosea 10:2 Their heart is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their altars. He will destroy their sacred stones.

Hosea 10:3 Surely now they will say, “We have no king; for we don’t fear Yahweh; and the king, what can he do for us?”

Hosea 10:4 They make promises, swearing falsely in making covenants. Therefore judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "heart", "divided", "found", "guilty", "demolish", "altars", "destroy", and "sacred". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "heart" and "divided", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces..." into verse 3's "Surely now they will say We have...", so "heart" and "divided" belong inside that flow. In Hosea context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "heart" and "divided" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.