Hoseachapter 4
19 verses · BSBHosea book hub →
Original Language
Hosea 4— Hebrew word study · with the Hebrew tradition
In Jewish life
Jewish practice and Jewish teaching both have something to say about Hosea 4. Three things follow: where it is read, what is done because of it, and how the rabbis have taught it. The purpose is to inform a Christian reader what Jews believe and how Judaism was and is practised.
The reading
The yearly cycle does not read Hosea 4. The Haftarah is drawn from the Prophets a passage at a time rather than continuously, so most chapters of most prophetic books are never read in the service, and this is one of them.
The verse numbers here are the ones a Hebrew Bible carries, which differ from an English Bible by a verse or two in several places. The Sephardi reading is named only where this site records a difference; communities vary beyond what is listed. What these books are, and how a Christian reader meets them →
Where the rabbis cite this chapter
4 rows sit beside their verses in the text, on 4 verses of this chapter. No row that speaks to the chapter as a whole is recorded. Every quote links to its full source.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria (sefaria.org); excerpts follow each version’s license, and every passage opens at its source.
How to read a word below: the Hebrewword, then how it sounds, then what it means, then its number in Strong’s concordance, a widely used lookup this site follows (H for Hebrew and Aramaic, G for Greek). Square brackets hold a word the English supplies that the Hebrew does not, angle brackets mark the Hebrew’s own grammatical elements that English renders as separate words, and the mark ס or פ is where the Hebrew manuscripts end a paragraph.
No truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land1
Hosea 4:1· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:2· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:3· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:4· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:5· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge6
Hosea 4:6· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:7· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:8· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:9· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:10· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:11· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Rashi on Hosea 4:11
take away the heart The harlotry and [old] wine and new wine with which they are involved have captured their hearts away from me.
Read it in full at Sefaria · The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
A spirit of whoredom has led them astray12
Hosea 4:12· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Rashi on Hosea 4:12
takes counsel of his piece of wood Of the idol which he has made of wood.
Read it in full at Sefaria · The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
Hosea 4:13· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Rashi on Hosea 4:13
oaks kיsna (chיna) in old French, upon which grows a fruit called ‘glant’ in old French (acorns).
Read it in full at Sefaria · The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
Hosea 4:14· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Rashi on Hosea 4:14
I will not punish your daughters anymore, to test them with the ‘bitter waters’ should they commit adultery. Why? Because their husbands join with harlots; for once the man is not free of sin, the waters do not test his wife. [based on Sifrei Num.:82 and Sotah 47a]
Read it in full at Sefaria · The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
Ephraim is joined to idols — let him alone15
Hosea 4:15· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:16· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:17· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Hosea 4:18· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible