What Does Hosea 10:7 Mean in the King James?

As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.

Hosea 10:7 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for “foam” shares its root with “wrath,” picturing the king’s power as a force that rises but cannot hold its shape.

THE MEANING

A power can look settled and still have no depth: the king is cut off like foam that cannot hold its shape on water. The image speaks now wherever authority feels permanent; standing above the surface is not the same as lasting substance.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A ruler’s visible power guarantees that the ruler will endure.

THE ROOT

קֶצֶף

qeṣep

GROWS FROM

קצף

Foam or froth; the same consonantal root also yields words for anger and wrath.

The Hebrew word translated “foam” belongs to the same root as a word for wrath. The king’s fall is pictured not as a gradual fading but as force that swells and breaks apart.

ALSO GROWS

qāṣap: to rage, be angry

קָצַף

This verb shares the root’s consonants and links the foam-image to the language of anger’s force.

qeṣep: wrath, anger

קֶצֶף

The same noun appears in Psalm 38:1 as “wrath,” letting the Hebrew word carry both the image of foam and the force of anger.

THE PATTERN

What appears powerful or substantial can vanish when it has no depth to hold it.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Psalm 1:4 · KJVLike the foam in Hosea, the chaff has no staying power when the force around it moves.

That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

Isaiah 40:23 · KJVEven rulers and judges, who seem firmly established, can be brought to nothing.

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

James 4:14 · KJVThe verse describes life itself as a brief appearance that vanishes, like foam on water.

THE THREAD

A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

Psalm 38:1 · KJV

Hosea uses ⁨קֶצֶף⁩ for “foam”; Psalm 38:1 uses the same root in “thy wrath.” This shared word lets the image carry both surface froth and the force of anger, deepening the picture of power that swells and breaks apart.

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