And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
I will break the bow of Israel - the prowess (Jeremiah 49:35: cf. Genesis 49:24, "His bow abode in strength").
In the valley of Jezreel - afterward called (Jdt 1:8) the great plain of Esdraelon, extending ten miles in breadth, and in length from the Mediterranean, near Mount Carmel, to the Jordan, which it reaches through two arms between the mountains of Gilboa, Little Hermon, and Tabor. From south to north it extends from the mountains of Ephraim to those of Galilee. It was the great battlefield of Palestine (Judges 6:33; 1 Samuel 29:1). In the same plain where Jehu affected such zeal in avenging the innocent blood shed by Ahab on his guilty seed, God was about to break the might of Israel. Hosea lived to see his own, prophecy fulfilled when Shalman or Shalmaneser "spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle" on the same plain, "dashing the mother in pieces upon her own children" Hosea 10:14).