Hosea 10:4
in Hosea 10They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They speak vain words, swearing falsely in making covenants: therefore judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
KJV
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
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This verse in Hosea 10
Commentary
9 notes on this verseBecause now they will say, 'There is no king for us, for we did not fear the Lord, and what will the king do to us?' Speaking words of useless vision, and you will strike a covenant, and judgment will germinate like bitterness over the furrows of the field. "LXX: "Therefore now they will say, there is no king for us, because we did not fear the Lord, but what will the king do to us? Speaking words, false excuses: he will arrange a testament, and judgment will arise like grass over the desert of the field.
This site's exposition
We have no king
on Hosea 10:3-4
We have no king, because we feared not the Lord confesses the political chaos of Israel's last decades, a throne seized by murder five times over in Hosea's own lifetime, and the confession admits the cause was spiritual before it was ever political. What then should a king do to us voices the people's own despair at a monarchy that never delivered what it promised. Judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows names the covenant sworn falsely turning bitter in the very ground it was meant to bless, the field itself yielding poison instead of grain.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Swearing falsely - By perjury deceiving those they treated with. A covenant - With the Assyrian king. Judgment - Divine vengeance.
They swore falsely in making a covenant; they were deceitful in their covenanting with God, the covenant of circumcision, the fair promises they made of reformation when they were in distress; and no marvel if those that were false to their God were false to all mankind.
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant,.... Those are other crimes they were guilty of, for which the wrath of God could not be awarded from them by a king, if they had one, or by any other.
They are charged with imitating the sins of their fathers, and with security in their own sins, and are threatened with smarting humbling judgments,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
They have spoken words - Vain, empty, deceitful words. Swearing falsely - This refers to the alliances made with strange powers, to whom they promised fidelity without intending to be faithful; and from whom they promised themselves protection and support, notwithstanding God was against them, and they knew it. All their words were vain, and in the end as bitter as gall. Judgment springeth up as hemlock - As our land lies without cultivation, so that we have nothing but noxious weeds instead of crops; so we have no administration of justice.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
words--mere empty words. swearing falsely in making a covenant--breaking their engagement to Shalmaneser (2Ki 17:4), and making a covenant with So, though covenants with foreigners were forbidden. judgment . . . as hemlock--that is, divine judgment shall spring up as rank, and as deadly, as hemlock in the furrows (De 29:18; GESENIUS translates, "poppy." GROTIUS, "darnel."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They have spoken words - The words which they spoke were eminently “words;” they were mere “words,” which had no substance; “swearing falsely in making a covenant, literally, swearing falsely, making a covenant, and judgments springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.” : “There is no truth in words, no sanctity in oaths, no faithfulness in keeping covenants, no justice in giving judgments.” Such is the result of all their oaths and covenants, that “judgment springeth up,” yea, flourisheth; but, what judgment? Judgment, bitter and poisonous as hemlock, flourishes, as hemlock would flourish on ground broken up and prepared for it. They break up the ground, make the “furrows.” They will not have any chance self-sown seed; they prepare the soil for harvest, full, abundant, regular, cleared of all besides. And what harvest? Not any wholesome plant, but poison. They cultivate injustice and wickedness, as if these were to be the fruits to be rendered to God from His own land. So Amos says, “Ye have turned judgment into gall or wormwood” Amo 6:12; Amo 5:7, and Habakkuk, “Judgment went forth perverted” Hab 1:4.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| דִּבְּר֣וּ | diberu | they have spoken | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| דְבָרִ֔ים | devarim | words | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אָל֥וֹת | ʾalot | they have sworn an oath | H422 → | |
| שָׁ֖וְא | shav' | falsehood | H7723 → | |
| כָּרֹ֣ת | karot | they have made | H3772 → | 288 times |
| בְּרִ֑ית | berit | a covenant | H1285 → | 284 times |
| וּפָרַ֤ח | ufarach | and it sprouts up | H6524 → | 36 times |
| כָּרֹאשׁ֙ | karosh | like <the> poisonous plant | H7219 → | |
| מִשְׁפָּ֔ט | mishpat | justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| עַ֖ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| תַּלְמֵ֥י | talmei | [the] furrows of | H8525 → | |
| שָׂדָֽי׃ | sadai | a field | H7704 → | 334 times |
דִּבְּר֣וּthey have spoken
diberuH1696 →1141 times
דְבָרִ֔יםwords
devarimH1697 →1440 times
אָל֥וֹתthey have sworn an oath
ʾalotH422 →
שָׁ֖וְאfalsehood
shav'H7723 →
כָּרֹ֣תthey have made
karotH3772 →288 times
בְּרִ֑יתa covenant
beritH1285 →284 times
וּפָרַ֤חand it sprouts up
ufarachH6524 →36 times
כָּרֹאשׁ֙like <the> poisonous plant
karoshH7219 →
מִשְׁפָּ֔טjustice
mishpatH4941 →422 times
עַ֖לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
תַּלְמֵ֥י[the] furrows of
talmeiH8525 →
שָׂדָֽי׃a field
sadaiH7704 →334 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Amos 5:7There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
it leads to
- Amos 6:12
“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Amos 6:12
Through
Deuteronomy 29:18Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure…
it leads to
- Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
- Deuteronomy 11:16–17
But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods,
- Deuteronomy 13:1–15
If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,
- Jeremiah 9:15
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
- Hebrews 12:15
Through
Amos 6:12“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
it leads to
- Amos 5:11–12
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Amos 5:7
There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
- Amos 5:11–12
Through
Hosea 4:2Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.
it leads to
- Hosea 6:9
Like raiders who lie in ambush, so does a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.
- Hosea 6:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Hosea
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 10:3-4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.