Hosea 4:13
in Hosea 4They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery.
KJV
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
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This verse in Hosea 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verse"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.
This site's exposition
Whoredom and wine and new wine
on 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.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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.
): They sacrifice to them, to atone and pacify them, and burn incense to them, to please and gratify them, and hope by both to recommend themselves to them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
Under oaks - אלון allon, from אלל alal, he was strong. Hence, the oak, in Latin, is called robur; which word means also, strength, the oak being the strongest of all the trees of the forest. The shadow thereof is good - Their “daughters committed whoredom, and their spouses committed adultery.” 1. Their deities were worshipped by prostitution. 2. They drank much in their idol worship, Hos 4:11, and thus their passions became inflamed. 3. The thick groves were favorable to the whoredoms and adulteries mentioned here. In imitation of these, some nations have their public gardens.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
oaks kיsna (chיna) in old French, upon which grows a fruit called ‘glant’ in old French (acorns).
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
takes counsel of his piece of wood Of the idol which he has made of wood.
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]
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| רָאשֵׁ֨י | rashei | [the] tops of | H7218 → | |
| הֶהָרִ֜ים | heharim | the mountains | H2022 → | |
| יְזַבֵּ֗חוּ | yezabechu | they sacrifice | H2076 → | 134 times |
| וְעַל־ | veal- | and on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַגְּבָעוֹת֙ | hagevaot | the hills | H1389 → | |
| יְקַטֵּ֔רוּ | yekateru | they make smoke | H6999 → | 116 times |
| תַּ֣חַת | tachat | under | H8478 → | |
| אַלּ֧וֹן | ʾalon | oak | H437 → | |
| וְלִבְנֶ֛ה | velivneh | and poplar | H3839 → | |
| וְאֵלָ֖ה | veelah | and terebinth | H424 → | |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| ט֣וֹב | tov | [is] good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| צִלָּ֑הּ | tzilah | shade its | H6738 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֗ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| תִּזְנֶ֙ינָה֙ | tizneinah | they prostitute themselves | H2181 → | 94 times |
| בְּנ֣וֹתֵיכֶ֔ם | benoteikhem | daughters your | H1323 → | 588 times |
| וְכַלּוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם | vekhaloteikhem | and brides your | H3618 → | |
| תְּנָאַֽפְנָה׃ | tenaafnah | they commit adultery | H5003 → | 31 times |
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
רָאשֵׁ֨י[the] tops of
rasheiH7218 →
הֶהָרִ֜יםthe mountains
heharimH2022 →
יְזַבֵּ֗חוּthey sacrifice
yezabechuH2076 →134 times
וְעַל־and on
veal-H5921 →5755 times
הַגְּבָעוֹת֙the hills
hagevaotH1389 →
יְקַטֵּ֔רוּthey make smoke
yekateruH6999 →116 times
תַּ֣חַתunder
tachatH8478 →
אַלּ֧וֹןoak
ʾalonH437 →
וְלִבְנֶ֛הand poplar
velivnehH3839 →
וְאֵלָ֖הand terebinth
veelahH424 →
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
ט֣וֹב[is] good
tovH2896 →538 times
צִלָּ֑הּshade its
tzilahH6738 →
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֗ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
תִּזְנֶ֙ינָה֙they prostitute themselves
tizneinahH2181 →94 times
בְּנ֣וֹתֵיכֶ֔םdaughters your
benoteikhemH1323 →588 times
וְכַלּוֹתֵיכֶ֖םand brides your
vekhaloteikhemH3618 →
תְּנָאַֽפְנָה׃they commit adultery
tenaafnahH5003 →31 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
Ezekiel 6:13Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and leafy…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:28
When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 20:28
Through
Amos 7:17Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be divided by a measuring…
it leads to
- Hosea 9:3
They will not remain in the land of the LORD; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
- 2 Kings 17:6
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the…
- Jeremiah 28:16
Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’”
- Ezekiel 4:13
Then the LORD said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their defiled bread among the nations to which I will banish them.”
- Hosea 9:3
Through
Isaiah 1:29Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.
it leads to
- Isaiah 66:17
“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.
- Isaiah 65:3
to a people who continually provoke Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens and burning incense on altars of brick,
- Isaiah 57:5
who burn with lust among the oaks, under every luxuriant tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
- Isaiah 66:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 4:13; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.