Hosea 10:7 (WEB)

Passage

Samaria and her king float away, like a twig on the water.

Nearby Context

Hosea 10:5 The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; for its people will mourn over it, Along with its priests who rejoiced over it, for its glory, because it has departed from it.

Hosea 10:6 It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king. Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel.

Hosea 10:7 Samaria and her king float away, like a twig on the water.

Hosea 10:8 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!”

Hosea 10:9 “Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they remained. The battle against the children of iniquity doesn’t overtake them in Gibeah.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "samaria", "king", "float", "away", "like", "twig", and "water". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "samaria" and "king", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "It also will be carried to Assyria..." into verse 8's "The high places also of Aven the...", so "samaria" and "king" 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 "samaria" and "king" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.