Word Study - Hosea 8:14 - Strongholds
Word Study: Hosea 8:14 Strongholds (אַרְמְנֹתֶֽיהָ)
Robert R. Crawford
OTCL 505: Research, Writing, and Ministry
Preparation
June 2025
Contents
“Select
Only the Most Important Words for Your Study”
“Determine
the Hebrew Word from Which the English Word Was Derived”
“Determine
the Usage of the Hebrew Word”
“List
All the English Words Used for That One Hebrew Word”
“Consider
How the Contextual Settings Influenced Each of the English Word Choices”
Introduction
The
passage selected for this assignment is Hosea 8:11-14, with verse 14 and the
word “strongholds” (אַרְמְנֹתֶֽיהָ) as the focus for this word study
(Hosea 8:14, ESV). In this passage, Israel and Judah had forgotten God their
creator. They were trusting in their own strength rather than in God’s
strength. They were building palaces and making fortified cities and as Israel
and Judah became stronger and had more ability to protect themselves, they did
not consult God and were falling away relying less on God. The people claimed
to know God but did not; they crowned kings, set up princes, made idols, and
sought pagan wives, they broke the covenant with God (Hosea 8:1-13). Looking
closely at the context of this passage and this particular word is necessary to
gain a better understanding of the meaning of this word and what God intended
in the passage.
“Select
Only the Most Important Words for Your Study”[1]
The English word “strongholds” (Hosea 8:14, ESV)
is important because the entire verse focuses on the “palaces” and “fortified
cities” which are the “strongholds” that Israel and Judah placed their trust in,
instead of trusting God. Because they forgot about God, the cities were destroyed.
The Strongs # H759 on the Blue Letter Bible website lists the phrase “its
palatial dwellings” (NASB) and “the palaces thereof” (KJV) under interlinear
tools as “אַרְמְנֹתֶיהָ”
with the root word listed as “אַרְמוֺן,” transliterated to “'armôn.”[2] There
are 32 uses of the Hebrew root word in the NASB and KJV translations and 34
uses in the ESV translation.[3]
According to the Blue Letter Bible site, the KJV translates this word 31 times
as “palace” and one time as “castle”.[4]
“Determine
the Hebrew Word from Which the English Word Was Derived”[5]
The Hebrew root word is “אַרְמוֺן Strongs
# H759” defined as “citadel, palace, fortress.”[6] The
term ”אַרְמְנֹתֶיהָ” is a “common, feminine, plural, construct” noun
derived from the root word “‘armôn (ארמון).[7]
“Determine
the Usage of the Hebrew Word”[8]
The word is used one time in the
books of 2 Chronicles, 2 Samuel, Hosea, Micah, Proverbs, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings; twice
in Lamentations, three times in Psalms; five times in Isaiah, and Jerimiah; and
eleven times in Amos (2 Chron. 36:19; 2 Sam. 21:8; Hosea 8:14; Micah 5:5; Prov.
18:19; 1 Kings 16:18; 2 Kings 15:25; Lam. 2:5, 7; Ps. 48:3, 48:13, 122:7; Isa.
13:22, 23:13, 25:2, 32:14, 34:13; Jer. 6:5, 9:21, 17:27, 30:18, 49:27; Amos 1:4,
7, 10, 12, 14, 2:2, 5, 3:9, 10, 11, 6:8). The word is used primarily in a
prophetic setting; however, it is also used in the poetry of Psalms, and once
as a name in 2 Samuel 21:8.
“List
All the English Words Used for That One Hebrew Word”[9]
“אַרְמוֹן n.m.
citadel — citadel, castle, palace, not used before royal period, mostly in
prophets, esp. common in Am & Je; citadel as securely barred (in sim.);
i.e. the citadel, stronghold; usually more general, of castles, palaces,
prominent buildings; esp. used in speaking of conquest, because the fine
buildings would be esp. object of attack & plunder.”[10] The
word appears different in different translations, for example, “strongholds”
(Hosea 8:14, ESV, RSV), “citadels” (Hosea 8:14, CBS, NET), “palaces” (Hosea
8:14, KJV, NKJV, YLT, DBY, WEB, AMP), “fortresses” (Hosea 8:14, NIV, NLT, HNV,
AMP), “castle” (Hosea 8:14, ASV), “foundations” (Hosea 8:14, BES), “palatial
buildings” (Hosea 8:14, NASB20), “palatial dwellings” (NASB95), and
“fortifications” (Hosea 8:14, MSG).
“Consider
How the Contextual Settings Influenced Each of the English Word Choices”[11]
In a
general sense, the word אַרְמוֹן in
context referred to castles, palaces, or prominent beautiful buildings, which
made these structures targets for “attack and plunder”.[12] In the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and
Amos, the Lord makes it clear to the prophets that he will destroy these places
of grandeur because they have become the hope and trust for strength, they have
become strongholds, rather than the nations believing God would provide all
they needed. Chapter eight of Hosea explains the people broke the covenant they
had with God and were worshiping idols (Hosea 8:1-6). They were even defiling
the sacrificial alters, Hosea 8:13 states, “[a]s for my sacrificial offerings,
they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them” (Hosea 8:13).
It is clear in this context God was not pleased with the people and He was
going to do something about it. Verse 8:5 states, “My anger burns against them”
(Hosea 8:5). Chapter 9 solidifies God is angry and His Word is extremely
descriptive about the consequences the nation will face as a result of their
actions. According to Henry, “This was
fulfilled when all the cities of Israel were laid in ashes by the king of
Assyria, and all the cities of Judah by the king of Babylon. The fires they
both kindled were of his sending; and when he judges he will overcome.” In
contrast, in David’s Psalm, he used the word poetically, because God’s people
were in a right relationship with God. According to Henry’s commentary on Psalm
122:7, “…all the inhabitants in general, all within the walls, from the least
to the greatest. Peace be in thy fortifications; let them never be attacked,
or, if they be, let them never be taken, but be an effectual security to the
city.”
Conclusion
Hosea prophesied God would tear down
the “strongholds” that were keeping his people from having a relationship with
him (Hosea 8:14). The word “strongholds” represents the meaning of the Hebrew root
word well in the context of Hosea because God was going to destroy the
fortresses that were causing the people to sin. According to Easton:
This was
the longest of the prophetic books written before the Captivity. Hosea
prophesied in a dark and melancholy period of Israel's history, the period of
Israel's decline and fall. Their sins had brought upon them great national
disasters. "Their homicides and fornication, their perjury and theft,
their idolatry and impiety, are censured and satirized with a faithful
severity.[13]
When
people put their faith in worldly things there is a consequence and sometimes strongholds
are the result of not trusting God. In this passage, Israel and Judah had
forgotten God, and thought they could make decisions themselves and not rely on
God's strength (Hosea 8:14). Hosea warns readers of the consequence of God
removing his hand of protection and favor from a nation. On a last note, this
English word choice is in harmony with the primary usage of the word throughout
the Old Testament; however, in certain situations, the word strongholds would
not fit in context.
Bibliography
Bible
Word Study. Logos Bible Software, accessed June 12 and 13,
2025, https://www.logos.com.
Easton,
M. "Hosea, Prophecies Of - Easton's Bible Dictionary." Blue Letter
Bible. Last Modified 24 June, 1996. https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/dictionary/viewtopic.cfm.
Henry, M. Commentary by Matthew Henry.
Blue Letter Bible. Last Modified 1 March, 1996. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Psa/Psa_122.cfm.
Roden, Chet. Elementary Biblical Hebrew : An
Introduction to the Language and Its History. Second edition. San Diego,
Calif: Cognella Academic Publishing, 2024.
Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (ESV). Blue Letter
Bible. Accessed 12 and 13 June, 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h759/esv/wlc/0-1/.
Whitaker,
Richard et al. The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of
the Old Testament: From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament.
by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles Briggs, Based on the Lexicon of
Wilhelm Gesenius (Boston; New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906).
.
[1]
Chet Roden, “Elementary Biblical Hebrew : An Introduction to the Language and
Its History,” Second edition. San Diego, Calif: Cognella Academic Publishing,
2024, 69-70.
[2]
"H759 - 'armôn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (esv)." Blue Letter Bible.
Accessed 12 June, 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h759/esv/wlc/0-1/
[3]
Bible Word Study, Logos Bible Software, accessed June 12, 2025, https://www.logos.com,
אַרְמוֺן.
[4]
"H759 - 'armôn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv)." Blue Letter Bible.
Accessed 13 June, 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h759/kjv/wlc/0-1/
[5]
Roden, “Elementary Biblical Hebrew,” 70.
[6]
"H759 - 'armôn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv)." Blue Letter Bible.
Accessed 13 June, 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h759/kjv/wlc/0-1/.
[7]
Bible Word Study, Logos Bible Software, accessed June 13, 2025, https://www.logos.com,
אַרְמוֺן.
[8]
Roden, “Elementary Biblical Hebrew,” 70.
[9]
Roden, “Elementary Biblical Hebrew,” 71.
[10]
Richard Whitaker et al., “The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English
Lexicon of the Old Testament: From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old
Testament.” by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles Briggs, Based on the
Lexicon of Wilhelm Gesenius (Boston; New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
1906), אַרְמוֺן.
[11]
Roden, “Elementary Biblical Hebrew,” 71.
[12]
"H759 - 'armôn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (esv)." Blue Letter Bible.
Accessed 14 June, 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h759/esv/wlc/0-1/.
[13]
M. Easton, "Hosea, Prophecies Of - Easton's Bible Dictionary." Blue
Letter Bible. Last Modified 24 June, 1996. https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/dictionary/viewtopic.cfm.
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