Hoseachapter 4
19 verses · KJVHosea book hub →
Key verse
Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
It stands in No truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land, verses 1 to 5.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The indictment opens in court: 'Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.' Swearing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery: 'they break out, and blood toucheth blood.' The charge lands hardest on the priests: 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge' (4:6); because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee. The people sacrifice on hilltops under oak and poplar and terebinth, ask counsel of a stick, and are led astray by a spirit of whoredom. The chapter's chilling verdict: 'Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.'
Context
Prophecy · Hosea · Hosea overview
The world behind this chapter
Hosea 4The history
The word translated knowledge here is not information. In covenant language, to know God meant to be in an acknowledged, loyal relationship with him, the way a vassal knew his king. The complaint that there is no knowledge of God in the land is a charge of broken allegiance, and the priests are blamed because teaching that allegiance was their job.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Hill worship was as physical as the text describes. Shrines sat on ridge tops and under particular trees, oak, poplar, terebinth, because the shade was good and the height was thought to be nearer the gods. Excavated Israelite high places have altars, standing stones, and space for feasting.
The consultation by a piece of wood was ordinary divination. A rod or two arrow shafts were dropped or shaken and the pattern read for an answer. It was widespread across the region, and it is named here alongside the drinking and the shrine prostitution as part of the same package.
Two place names are turned into insults. Gilgal was where Israel first camped in the land under Joshua, and Bethel, house of God, is renamed Beth-aven, house of wickedness, because it housed one of the two golden calves. Hosea will use that nickname for the rest of the book.
What it meant to them
The line that would have landed hardest is that the people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, and that the priests rejected it first. The men paid to hold the nation's memory had let it go, and the whole country went down with them.
There is a warning to Judah tucked into the middle: do not come up to Gilgal. Hosea's message travelled south, and the southern kingdom was being told to watch what was happening to its northern relatives and stay away from it.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
Where the chapter sits
Hosea 4 falls in The LORD's controversy with Israel (chapters 4–14). Oracles against the northern kingdom's idolatry, political faithlessness, and corruption, closing with the great call ‘O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God’ (14:1).
Before it: The marriage and the children, chapters 1–3.
The whole shape of Hosea→The structure of this chapter
People1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. No truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land
1. (vv. 1-3)
Hosea 4:1
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel - The prophet begins here, in a series of pictures as it were, to exhibit the people of Israel to themselves, that they might know that God did not do without cause all this which He denounced against them. Here, at the outset, He summons, the whole people, their prophets and priests, before the judgment seat of God, where God would condescend, Himself to implead them, and hear, if they had ought in their defense.”
Hosea 4:2
“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, no conviction of his omnipresence and omniscience, private offenses, such as stealing, adulteries, etc., will prevail. These, sooner or later, break out, become a flood, and carry all before them.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:2
“It was about this time that there was so much blood shed in grasping at the crown; Shallum slew Zechariah, and Menahem slew Shallum, Pekah slew Pekahiah, and Hoshea slew Pekah; and the like bloody work, it is likely, there was among other contenders, so that the land was polluted with blood ( Ps. cvi. 38 ); it was filled with blood from one end to the other, 2 Kings xxi.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 4:3
Therefore the earth will mourn, and all who dwell in it will be weakened: in the beast of the field and in the bird of the sky, and even the fish of the sea will be gathered. " LXX: "Therefore the earth will mourn and be diminished with all who dwell in it, with the beasts of the field," "with the serpents of the earth, and with the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea will fail."
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 4:3patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 4:3
“Therefore shall the land mourn - Dumb inanimate nature seems to rejoice and to be in unison with our sense of joy, when bedewed and fresh through rain and radiant with light; and, again, to mourn, when smitten with drought or blight or disease, or devoured by the creatures which God employs to lay it waste for man’s sins. Dumb nature is, as it were, in sympathy with man, cursed in Adam, smitten amid man’s offences, its outward show responding to man’s inward heart, wasted, parched, desolate, when man himself was marred and wasted by his sins.”
Hosea 4:3
“The tamer either were killed by enemies, or offended with stench, forsook the country, or were devoured by birds of prey. Taken away - Whether by drying up the waters, or by corrupting them with blood and carcasses.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Hear the word of the Lord: The book turns from Gomer's household to the whole land with a lawsuit form, a controversy the Lord brings against Israel for the absence of truth, mercy and the knowledge of God. Swearing, lying, killing, stealing and adultery break out until blood toucheth blood, one sin overtaking another the way flood water rises, and the commentators read the list as the second table of the commandments broken in order. The land itself mourns and the beasts, birds and fish are taken away, creation drawn into the covenant's collapse the way Genesis ties the ground to Adam's fall.
2. (vv. 4-5)
Hosea 4:4
“Yet let no man strive - Or, no man contendeth. All these evils stalk abroad unreproved, for all are guilty. None can say, “Let me pluck the mote out of thy eye,” because he knows that “there is a beam in his own.” For thy people are - The people and the priest are alike rebels against the Lord; the priests having become idolaters, as well as the people.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:4
"Nevertheless, let no one judge, and let no man be accused: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest, and thou shalt fall this day, and the prophet shall fall with thee." LXX: "That no one be judged, nor anyone be rebuked: but my people are like a priest who is contradicted, and shall be weakened" "during the day, and the prophet shall be weakened with thee." According to the Septuagint interpreters, what we have placed "that no one be judged or rebuked," should be combined with the previous chapter, but we follow the Hebrews.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 4:4-5patristic
Hosea 4:5
“Therefore shalt thou fall - The two parts of the verse fill up each other. “By day and by night shall they fall, people and prophets together.” Their calamities should come upon them successively, day and night. They should stumble by day, when there is least fear of stumbling Joh 11:9-10; and night should not by its darkness protect them.”
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:5
“The prophet - Prophesied lies. In the night - In the darkest calamities. Thy mother - Both the state, or kingdom; and the synagogues, or churches: the publick is as a mother to private persons, so all shall be destroyed.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Hosea 4:4-6
Yet let no man strive: No man is to strive or reprove another, for the people are already at odds with the priest, the very office meant to instruct them, and the prophet falls with the priest by day and night, the ruin shared rather than one class blaming another. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge is the chapter's hinge, and the bench reads the lack as the priests' failure to teach the law rather than mere ignorance, since verse 6 goes on to charge them with rejecting knowledge and forgetting God's law. Because the priest rejected knowledge the Lord rejects him from the priesthood, and forgets his children in turn, judgment mirroring the neglect that caused it.
B. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
1. (v. 6)
Hosea 4:6
"At night, I made your mother be silent, my people have become silent, because they have no knowledge: for you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you, and you will not serve as a priest to me; and you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons." LXX: "I have compared thy mother to the night, and my people to have no knowledge. Since thou hast refused knowledge, I will also refuse thee, that thou shalt not be a priest to me.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 4:6patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 4:6
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - They have not the knowledge of God, nor of sacred things, nor of their own interest, nor of the danger to which they are exposed. They walk on blindly, and perish. Because thou hast rejected knowledge - So they might have become wise, had they not rejected the means of improvement.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hosea 4:6
“Destroyed - Many were already cut off by Pul king of Assyria, and many destroyed by the bloody tyranny of Menahem. Of knowledge - Of God, his law, his providence, his holy nature, his hatred of sin and power to punish it.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2. (vv. 7-10)
Hosea 4:7
"According to their abundance, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame." LXX: "According to their abundance, so they sinned against me, I will turn their glory into shame." Israel had as many altars built for demons as they had men, in whose sacrifices they sinned against me. Therefore, I will exchange their glory, in which they boasted to themselves and preferred to God, into ignominy, so that both the priests and the people may be captured.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 4:7-9patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:7
“As they were increased, so they sinned against me,.... As the children of the priests increased and grew up, they sinned against the Lord, imitating their parents; they were as many sinners as they were persons, not one to be excepted: this expresses their universal depravity and corruption. Some understand it of their increase, as in number, so in riches, wealth, honour, dignity, and authority, and yet they sinned more and more; which shows their ingratitude.”
Hosea 4:8
“They eat up the sin of my people - חטאת chattath, the sin-offering, though it be offered contrary to the law; for their hearts are set on iniquity, they wish to do whatever is contrary to God.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:8
“They set their heart upon the people's iniquities; they lifted up their soul to them, that is, they were glad then people did commit iniquity, that they might be obliged to bring an offering to make atonement for it, which they should have their share of; the more sins the more sacrifices, and therefore they cared not how much sin people were guilty of.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 4:9
“Thus God will punish them both for their ways, and reward them for their doings. God will cause their doings to return upon them (so the word is); when a sin is committed the sinner thinks it is gone and he shall hear no more of it, but he shall find it called over again, and made to return, either to his humiliation or to his condemnation.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:9
“And there shall be like people, like priest - Priest and people were alike in sin. Yea they are wont, if bad, to foment each other’s sin. The bad priest copies the sins which he should reprove, and excuses himself by the frailty of our common nature. The people, acutely enough, detect the worldliness or self-indulgence of the priest, and shelter themselves under his example. Their defense stands good before people; but what before God?”
Hosea 4:10
"And they shall eat, and not be satisfied: and they have committed fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not keeping him." LXX: "And they shall eat, and not be filled: they have committed fornication, and shall not be directed: because they have forsaken the Lord, to keep not his law." Insatiable pleasure is created, and the more one is captured by it, the more hunger it creates. On the contrary, blessed are the hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will be satisfied.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 4:10-12patristic
As they were increased: As the priests increased in number and prosperity they sinned the more, so their glory is turned into shame, a reversal the older writers call a fitting recompense for a caste that grew fat rather than faithful. They eat up the sin of my people is read as the priests profiting from the sin offerings brought for the people's guilt, feeding on wrongdoing instead of correcting it, so like people, like priest binds both under one coming punishment. They shall eat and not have enough, and shall commit whoredom and not increase, because they have left off taking heed to the Lord, futility built into the very acts meant to satisfy.
3. (v. 11)
Hosea 4:11
“Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart - (Literally, “takes away”). Wine and fleshly sin are pictured as blended in one, to deprive man of his affections and reason and understanding, and to leave him brutish and irrational. In all the relations of life toward God and man, reason and will are guided by the affections. And so, in God’s language, the “heart” stands for the “understanding” as well as the “affections,” because it directs the understanding, and the understanding, bereft of true affections, and under the rule of passion, becomes senseless.”
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:11
“A moral truth applicable to all times. The special reference here is to the licentious orgies connected with the Syrian worship, which lured Israel away from the pure worship of God (Isa 28:1, 7; Am 4:1). take away the heart--that is, the understanding; make men blind to their own true good (Ec 7:7).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Hosea 4:11-14
Whoredom and wine and new wine: take away the heart, the three named together as what dulls a people's capacity to know God, and the note carries the physical wording (whoredom, harlots) as the text's own idiom for covenant unfaithfulness under the gracious rule, never applied to any living people. The people ask counsel of wooden stocks and staffs, a spirit of whoredoms leading them astray from under their God, sacrificing on the hilltops under shady trees because the shade is pleasant, the older writers noting the appeal of convenience over the temple's harder road. Because the fathers' cultic prostitution corrupted the daughters and wives in turn, the Lord will not single out the young women for punishment, since the whole household shares the same collapse, the people without understanding brought down together.
C. A spirit of whoredom has led them astrayvv. 12-14
Hosea 4:12
“My people ask counsel at their stocks,.... Or "at his wood" (a), or stick; his wooden image, as the Targum; their wooden gods, their idols made of wood, mere stocks and blocks, without life or sense, and much less reason and understanding, and still less divinity.”
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 4:12
“At their stocks - They consult their wooden gods. And their staff declareth - They use divination by rods; see the note on Ezekiel 21 (note), where this sort of divination (rabdomancy) is explained.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hosea 4:12
“They say to a stock, Thou art my father ( Jer. ii. 27 ); and, if it were indeed a father, it were worthy of this honour; but it was a great affront to God, who was indeed their Father, and whose lively oracles they had among them, with which they had liberty to consult at any time, thus to ask counsel at their stocks.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 4:13
"On the tops of the mountains, they sacrificed, and on the hills, they burned incense under an oak and a poplar and a terebinth because its shade was good." According to the Law, it is commanded that one should not offer sacrifice to the Lord anywhere other than the place that the Lord God chooses. Trees are not to be planted near the altar so that a passive and indulgent religion does not overthrow the austerity of the one true religion.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 4:13patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 4:13
“They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains - The tops of hills or mountains seemed nearer heaven, the air was purer, the place more removed from the world. To worship the Unseen God upon them, was then the suggestion of natural feeling and of simple devotion. God Himself directed the typical sacrifice of Isaac to take place on a mountain; on that same mountain He commanded that the temple should be built; on a mountain, God gave the law; on a mountain was our Saviour transfigured; on a mountain was He crucified; from a mountain He ascended into heaven.”
Hosea 4:13
“But thus they might read their sin in their punishment, as David's adultery was punished in the debauching of his concubines by his own son, 2 Sam. xii. Note, When the same sin in others is made men's grief and affliction which they have themselves been guilty of they must own that the Lord is righteous.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 4:14
"Therefore, your daughters will prostitute themselves, and your daughters-in-law will commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they fornicate or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because they themselves consorted with prostitutes and offered sacrifices with effeminate men, and the people who do not understand will be punished." LXX: "Therefore your daughters will prostitute themselves, and your brides will commit adultery; I will not punish them for prostitution nor for adultery, because they went to prostitutes and arranged pagan temple rites with sacred prostitutes; a senseless people they are."
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 4:14patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 4:14
“I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredoms, nor your spouses when they commit adultery,.... Either not punish them at all, so that they shall go on in sin, and to a greater degree, to the disgrace and reproach of their parents and husbands; or not as yet, or not so severely in them, because it was by their example they were led into it. Jarchi's note is very impertinent, that God threatens them with the disuse of the bitter waters of jealousy.”
Hosea 4:14
“I will not punish - Why should you be stricken any more; ye will revolt more and more. When God, in judgment, removes his judgments, the case of that people is desperate. While there is hope, there is correction. Themselves are separated - There is a reference here to certain debaucheries which should not be described.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
D. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone
1. (vv. 15-16)
Hosea 4:15
“Offend - Commit like sins. Gilgal - Gilgal was chosen by Jeroboam, or by succeeding idolaters for the solemn worship of their idols. Beth-aven - Beth-el, where Jacob lodged, who called it Beth-el, the house of God; but when Jeroboam made it the place for his calf-worship, it became Beth-aven, the house of vanity or iniquity.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 4:15
“Let not Judah offend - The sentence of Israel had been pronounced; she had been declared incorrigible. The prophet turns from her now to Judah. Israel had abandoned God’s worship, rejected or corrupted His priests, given herself to the worship of the calves; no marvel what further excess of riot she run into! But Judah, who had the law and the temple and the service of God, let not her, (he would say,) involve herself in Israel’s sin. If Israel, in willful blindness, had plunged herself in ruin, let not Judah involve herself in her sin and her ruin.”
Hosea 4:15
“The men of Israel were brethren, and near neighbours, to the men of Judah; Israel was more numerous, and at this time in a prosperous condition, and therefore there was danger lest the men of Judah should learn their way and get a snare to their souls. Note, The nearer we are to the infection of sin the more need we have to stand upon our guard.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 4:16
“Israel slideth back - They are untractable, like an unbroken heifer or steer, that pulls back, rather than draw in the yoke. Will feed them as a lamb in a large place - A species of irony. Ye shall go to Assyria, and be scattered among the nations; ye may sport yourselves in the extensive empire, wither ye shall be carried captives.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:16
“As a back-sliding heifer - Which when grown lusty, and wanton, will neither endure the yoke nor be confined in her allowed pastures. In a large place - In a large place or wilderness, where is no rest, safety or provision; such shall be the condition of the ten tribes.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot: Though Israel plays the harlot, Judah is warned not to offend in the same way, and not to go up to the corrupted shrines at Gilgal or Beth-aven, the very name Bethel, house of God, deliberately twisted to Beth-aven, house of vanity, a wordplay the bench reads as the prophet's verdict on what the calf-worship had made of the place. Israel slides back like a stubborn heifer refusing the yoke, and yet the Lord's answer is not force but pasture, to feed them as a lamb in a large place, mercy answering rebellion rather than matching it.
2. (vv. 17-19)
Hosea 4:17
“Ephraim is joined to idols - that is, banded, bound up with them, “associated,” as the word means, with them so as to cleave to them, willing neither to part with nor to be parted from, them. The idols are called by a name, denoting toils; with toil they were fashioned, and, when fashioned, they were a toil and grief. Let him alone - Literally, give him rest, i. e., from all further expostulations, which he will not hear.”
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:17
"Partaker of their idols is Ephraim, leave him." LXX: "Ephraim, a participant in idols, has placed scandals for himself." Ephraim, of whose tribe Jeroboam son of Nabath, who first set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan, is king of ten tribes. Therefore, O Judah, whom I mentioned above, if Israel commits fornication, let at least Judah not sin. Listen to my advice, do not disregard the words of the prophets; for Ephraim once was a friend and partner with idols.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Hosea 4:17-19patristic
Hosea 4:18
“Or, unbridled licentiousness; not mere ordinary sin, but as abandoned as drunkards who vomit and smell sour with wine potations [CALVIN]. MAURER not so well translates, "When their drinking is over, they commit whoredoms," namely, in honor of Astarte (Ho 4:13, 14). her rulers--Israel's; literally, "shields" (compare Ps 47:9). with shame . . . love, Give ye-- (Pr 30:15).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 4:18
“They drove a trade of uncleanness; it was not a single act now and then, but their constant practice, as it is of many that have eyes full of adultery and which cannot cease from that sin, 2 Pet. ii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 4:19
“The wind hath bound her up in her wings - When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He “bare them on eagle’s wings, and brought them unto Himself” Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11. Now they had abandoned God, and God abandoned them as chaff to the wind. The certainty of Israel’s doom is denoted by its being spoken of in the past. It was certain in the divine judgment. Sudden, resistless, irreversible are God’s judgments, when they come.”
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 4:19
“And then they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices, ashamed of their sin in offering sacrifice to idols, ashamed of their folly in putting themselves to such an expense upon gods that have no power to help them, and thereby making that God their enemy who has almighty power to destroy them. Note, There are sacrifices that men will one day be ashamed of.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 4:19
“Israel shall be swept away from her land (Ho 4:16) suddenly and violently as if by "the wings of the wind" (Ps 18:10; Jer 4:11, 12). ashamed . . . of their sacrifices--disappointed to their shame in their hope of help through their sacrifices to idols.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ephraim is joined to idols: , let him alone, one of Scripture's most severe sentences, and the older writers read it as judicial abandonment rather than simple neglect, a people given over to the course they insisted on. Their drink grown sour, their rulers loving shame more than glory, the chapter closes with the wind binding the nation up in its own wings, carried off by the very forces it courted, and shame following the sacrifices offered to gods that could not save. The chapter's whole indictment, priest and people alike, sets up chapter 5's declaration that the same charge now falls on the house of the king.
This page carries no textual note on Hosea 4. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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