Hosea

Hosea 4

19 verses · Minor Prophets · Old Testament

1Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel;

for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed. 3Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will waste away, with all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky, yes, the fish of the sea also die.
4“Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. 5You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother. 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children. 7As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame. 8They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity. 9It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds. 10They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned giving to Yahweh. 11Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding. 12My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God. 13They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin.
15“Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Judah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, ‘As Yahweh lives.’ 16For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow. 17Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone! 18Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way. 19The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices.

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What others are saying

5 commentators · 76 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17143

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–5

Here is, I. The court set, and both attendance and attention demanded: "Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for to you is the word of this conviction sent, whether you will hear or whether you will forbear." Whom may God expect to give him a…

v. 6–11

God is here proceeding in his controversy both with the priests and with the people. The people were as those that strove with the priests (Hos 4:4) when they had priests that did their duty; but the generality of them lived in the neglect of their duty, and…

v. 12–19

In these verses we have, as before, I. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, for which God had a controversy with them, and they are, 1. Spiritual whoredom, or idolatry. They have in them a spirit of whoredoms, a strong inclination to that sin; the bent…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176319

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel,.... The people of the ten tribes, as distinct from Judah, Hosea 4:15, the prophet having finished his parables he was ordered to take up and deliver, and his explanations of them, and concluded with a gracious…

v. 2

By swearing, and lying,.... Which some join together, and make but one sin of it, false swearing, so Jarchi and Kimchi; but that swearing itself signifies, as the Targum interprets it; for it not only takes in all cursing and imprecations, profane oaths, and…

v. 3

Therefore shall the land mourn,.... Because of the calamities on it, the devastations made in it; nothing growing upon it, through a violent drought; or the grass and corn being trodden down, or eaten up, by a foreign army: and everyone that dwelleth therein…

Adam ClarkeMethodist / Wesleyan-Arminian · 1810–182619

The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.

Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.

v. 1

The Lord hath a controversy - ריב rib, what we should call a lawsuit, in which God is plaintiff, and the Israelites defendants. It is Jehovah versus Israel and Judah. But when has God a controversy with any land? - Answer. When there is no truth, nor mercy…

v. 2

By swearing, and lying - Where there is no truth there will be lies and perjury; for false swearing is brought in to confirm lying statements. And when there is no mercy, killing, slaying, and murders, will be frequent. And where there is no knowledge of God…

v. 3

Therefore shall the land mourn - Fruitful seasons shall be denied. That dwelleth therein shall languish - Endemic and epidemic disorders shall prevail, and multitudes shall die; so that mourning shall be found in all quarters. The beasts of the field, and…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–187517

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1

Hos 4:1-5 form the first strophe, and contain, so to speak, the theme and the sum and substance of the whole of the following threatening of punishment and judgment. Hos 4:1. "Hear the word of Jehovah, ye sons of Israel! for Jehovah has a controversy with the…

v. 2

"Swearing, and lying, and murdering, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break in, and blood reaches to blood." The enumeration of the prevailing sins and crimes commences with infin. absoll., to set forth the acts referred to as such with the greater…

v. 3

These crimes bring the land to ruin. Hos 4:3. "Therefore the land mourns, and every dweller therein, of beasts of the field and birds of the heaven, wastes away; and even the fishes of the sea perish." These words affirm not only that the inanimate creation…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187118

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2

they break out--bursting through every restraint. blood toucheth blood--literally, "bloods." One act of bloodshed follows another without any interval between (see Kg2 15:8-16, Kg2 15:25; Mic 7:2).

v. 3

land . . . languish-- (Isa 19:8; Isa 24:4; Joe 1:10, Joe 1:12). sea--including all bodies of water, as pools and even rivers (see on Isa 19:5). A general drought, the greatest calamity in the East, is threatened.

v. 4

let no man . . . reprove--Great as is the sin of Israel, it is hopeless to reprove them; for their presumptuous guilt is as great as that of one who refuses to obey the priest when giving judgment in the name of Jehovah, and who therefore is to be put to…

World English Bible — Public domain