Hosea 13:5
New International Version
I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat.

New Living Translation
I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land.

English Standard Version
It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought;

Berean Standard Bible
I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

King James Bible
I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

New King James Version
I knew you in the wilderness, In the land of great drought.

New American Standard Bible
I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.

NASB 1995
I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.

NASB 1977
I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.

Legacy Standard Bible
I Myself knew you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.

Amplified Bible
I knew and regarded you and cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.

Christian Standard Bible
I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

American Standard Version
I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

Contemporary English Version
I took care of you in a thirsty desert.

English Revised Version
I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I took care of you in the desert, in a dry land.

Good News Translation
I took care of you in a dry, desert land.

International Standard Version
I took care of you in the wilderness, in a waterless land.

Majority Standard Bible
I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

NET Bible
I cared for you in the wilderness, in the dry desert where no water was.

New Heart English Bible
I fed you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

Webster's Bible Translation
I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drouth.

World English Bible
I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
I have known you in a wilderness, "" In a land of droughts.

Young's Literal Translation
I -- I have known thee in a wilderness, In a land of droughts.

Smith's Literal Translation
I knew thee in the desert, in the land of thirst.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
I knew thee in the desert, in the land of the wilderness.

Catholic Public Domain Version
I knew you in the desert, in the land of solitude.

New American Bible
I fed you in the wilderness, in the parched land.

New Revised Standard Version
It was I who fed you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
It was I who fed you in the wilderness, in a desolate land which is uninhabited.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
I shepherded you in the wilderness in a desolate land without inhabitant
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
I did know thee in the wilderness, In the land of great drought.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
I tended thee as a shepherd in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Anger
4Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me. 5I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. 6When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 8:15
He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

Exodus 16:4
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.

Exodus 16:32
Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Keep an omer of manna for the generations to come, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

Jeremiah 2:6
They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

Psalm 78:15-16
He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas. / He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

Psalm 78:52-53
He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness. / He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.

Nehemiah 9:21
For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Isaiah 63:11-14
Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them, / who sent His glorious arm to lead them by the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to gain for Himself everlasting renown, / who led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble? ...

Psalm 105:40-41
They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. / He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.

Psalm 136:16
He led His people through the wilderness. His loving devotion endures forever.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea. / They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. / They all ate the same spiritual food ...

John 6:31-33
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” / Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. / For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

John 6:49-51
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. / This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. / I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.”

Acts 7:36-38
He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness. / This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ / He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. And he received living words to pass on to us.


Treasury of Scripture

I did know you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

know.

Exodus 2:25
And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

Psalm 1:6
For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 31:7
I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy 2:7
For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Deuteronomy 8:15
Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

great drought.

Psalm 63:1
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

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Burning Cared Desert Drought Droughts Drouth Great Heat Waste Water Wilderness
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Burning Cared Desert Drought Droughts Drouth Great Heat Waste Water Wilderness
Hosea 13
1. Ephraim's glory vanishes.
4. God's anger.
9. God's mercy.
15. The judgment of Samaria.














I knew you
The Hebrew word for "knew" here is "יָדַע" (yada), which implies an intimate, personal knowledge. This is not merely an awareness but a deep, covenantal relationship. In the context of Hosea, God is reminding Israel of His intimate involvement and care for them. This knowledge is akin to the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep, where the shepherd knows each sheep by name and understands their needs. It is a reminder of God's faithfulness and His desire for a reciprocal relationship with His people.

in the wilderness
The "wilderness" (מִדְבָּר, midbar) refers to the period of Israel's journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. This was a time of testing and reliance on God for sustenance and guidance. The wilderness is often symbolic of a place of trial and purification in the Bible. It is where God provided manna and water, demonstrating His provision and care. The wilderness experience is a metaphor for the spiritual journey, where believers learn to depend on God alone, stripped of worldly comforts and distractions.

in the land of drought
The phrase "land of drought" (אֶרֶץ לֹא מָטָר, eretz lo matar) emphasizes the barrenness and harsh conditions of the wilderness. Drought signifies a lack of resources and life-sustaining water, yet it is in this very place of scarcity that God reveals His sufficiency. Historically, this reminds the Israelites of their dependence on God for survival. Spiritually, it speaks to times in a believer's life when they may feel spiritually dry or distant from God, yet it is precisely in these times that God’s presence and provision can be most profoundly experienced.

Verse 5. - I did know thee in the wilderness. The pronoun at the beginning of the verse is emphatic: As for me; or, I it was that knew thee. The meaning of the sentiment is: I acknowledged thee with kindness, with paternal care and kind providence watching over thee. "Thou shouldest gratefully acknowledge me," is the comment of Kimchi, "because I knew thee in the wilderness, and cared for thy necessity in the wilderness, in which there were no means of livelihood." In the land of great drought. The root of the word תַּלְאוּבֹת is לאב, unused in Hebrew, but signifying, in Arabic, "to burn, dry, be dry," akin to לָחַב. Aben Ezra correctly explains it to be "a dry and thirsty laud, and so in the Arabic language; and (that it is so called) on account of all hardships being in it, is the allegorical explanation and not the literal sense." Instead of a lengthened enumeration of all God's loving-kindnesses to Israel at the Exodus and during the desert wanderings, the prophet sums up all in the expressive, "the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt;" and "I it was that did know thee in the wilderness." It is as though he had said, "I pitied thee in the bondage and among the brick-kilns of Egypt; I brought thee forth with a strong hand and outstretched arm; I led thee through the wilderness; I relieved thee in thy straits; I gave thee bread from heaven to satisfy thy hunger, and water from the rock to quench thy thirst; I defended thee from enemies; nor did I relax my care till I gave thee the goodly laud of promise."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
I
אֲנִ֥י (’ă·nî)
Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

knew you
יְדַעְתִּ֖יךָ (yə·ḏa‘·tî·ḵā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular | second person masculine singular
Strong's 3045: To know

in the wilderness,
בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר (bam·miḏ·bār)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4057: A pasture, a desert, speech

in the land
בְּאֶ֖רֶץ (bə·’e·reṣ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of drought.
תַּלְאֻבֽוֹת׃ (tal·’u·ḇō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 8514: Desiccation


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OT Prophets: Hosea 13:5 I knew you in the wilderness (Ho Hs Hos.)
Hosea 13:4
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