All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.

HOSEA 9:15KJV
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Hosea 9:15 (KJV)

What does Hosea 9:15 mean?

Hosea 9:15 says that Israel’s wrongdoing is centered in Gilgal, a place where God declares He has come to hate them because of their persistent evil actions. As a result, God says He will drive them out from His presence and will no longer show them love, since even their leaders are rebellious.

In this verse, the prophet Hosea is speaking God’s words to the people of Israel during a time when they have repeatedly turned away from God, especially through corrupt worship and leadership. Gilgal was once a significant place for Israel’s early worship, but it had become a center of disobedience. The verse shows how deep the nation’s unfaithfulness has gone, leading to a complete break in their relationship with God.

The Hebrew behind Hosea 9:15

  • גִּלְגָּל (Gilgal, gilgal): This place name refers to a historic site in Israel, once important for worship, but here it is marked as a center of wickedness, highlighting how even sacred spaces can become corrupted.
  • שָׂנֵאתִים (saneti, "hated"): This word means to hate or reject. In this context, it shows a strong turning away, not just anger but a decisive rejection because of ongoing sin.
  • גֵּרֵשׁ (geresh, "drive out"): This word means to expel or cast out. It emphasizes the seriousness of being removed from God’s "house," which likely refers to His presence or the land He gave them.
  • אָהַב (ahav, "love"): The verb for love here is in a form that means “I will love…no more,” showing a complete withdrawal of God’s favor, not just a temporary anger.

Why Hosea 9:15 matters

  • Hosea 9:15 clears up that God’s rejection is not random or sudden, but a response to repeated, specific acts of disobedience, especially in places that were supposed to be holy.
  • The verse reveals that even leaders ("princes") are included in the condemnation, showing that corruption had spread throughout the nation, not just among ordinary people.
  • Hosea 9:15 connects to the wider message of Hosea, where God’s love is real but not unconditional—persistent rebellion can lead to real consequences, even for those once chosen.

Where else these words appear

“revolters” Hebrew H5637 · used in 16 verses

  • Deuteronomy 21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
  • Psalms 68:18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.
  • Isaiah 65:2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;

“wickedness” Hebrew H7455 · used in 19 verses

  • Genesis 41:19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
  • Isaiah 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
  • Jeremiah 24:3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

“love” Hebrew H160 · used in 37 verses

  • Genesis 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
  • Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
  • Song of Solomon 7:6 How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!

“Gilgal” Hebrew H1537 · used in 39 verses

  • Deuteronomy 11:30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?
  • Joshua 14:6 Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.
  • 1 Samuel 15:12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.