Similitude

A similitude is a likeness fashioned in speech — a comparison or figured image used to carry meaning. The umbrella collects only one verse, where the term names a third mode of prophetic communication alongside direct address and vision.

A Mode of Prophetic Speech

In Hosea, Yahweh enumerates the channels by which the prophetic word reaches Israel: "I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the hand of the prophets I have used similitudes" (Ho 12:10). Three modes stand together. Speech is direct. Visions are multiplied — given in plenty rather than rationed. Similitudes are placed last and located "by the hand of the prophets," locating the figure in the prophet's own delivery rather than in the immediate divine voice. The verse warrants the use of figured comparison as a sanctioned channel of prophetic speech, set inside a larger pattern of multiplied address.