Hosea 10:5

When God destroyed Israel’s altars (Hosea 10:2), specifically the golden calf at Beth-aven (i.e., Bethel, cf. Hosea 10:8; Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8), the Israelites who lived in Samaria, Israel’s capital, would fear. Beth-aven may stand not merely for Bethel but also for the whole official, semi-pagan religious set-up in Israel. [Note: Ellison, p. 128.] The people would mourn, and the idolatrous priests (Heb. kemarim; cf. 2 Kings 23:5; Zephaniah 1:4) who served there would bewail the demise of this altar, since its glory had departed from the land.