Hosea 4:17
in Hosea 4Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.
KJV
Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
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This verse in Hosea 4
Commentary
10 notes on this verse"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.
This site's exposition
Ephraim is joined to idols
on Hosea 4:17-19
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.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
There are two instances given of their spiritual whoredom, in both which they gave that honour to their idols which is due to God only:-- (1.) They consulted them as oracles, and used those arts of divination which they had learned from their idolatrous priests (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Ephraim - The children of Ephraim were numerous and potent, and here put for the whole ten tribes. Let him alone - He is obstinate, as such, throw him up.
Ephraim is joined to idols,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
1Co 6:16, 17). idols--The Hebrew means also "sorrows," "pains," implying the pain which idolatry brings on its votaries. let him alone--Leave him to himself. Let him reap the fruits of his own perverse choice; his case is desperate; say nothing to him (compare Jer 7:16). Here Ho 4:15 shows the address is to Judah, to avoid the contagion of Israel's bad example.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
TO what purpose these vast assemblies Sunday after Sunday? Why do you crowd these aisles and galleries till every seat is occupied, and every foot of standing room is filled? Have you, all of you, a zeal to worship? Do you all thirst to hear the Word of the Lord? Ah me! I am beset with fears and misgivings. My heart is troubled for full many of you. Many persons entertain the evil notion that preaching sermons and hearing sermons is a light matter.
TO what purpose these vast assemblies Sunday after Sunday? Why do you crowd these aisles and galleries till every seat is occupied, and every foot of standing room is filled? Have you, all of you, a zeal to worship? Do you all thirst to hear the Word of the Lord? Ah me! I am beset with fears and misgivings. My heart is troubled for full many of you. Many persons entertain the evil notion that preaching sermons and hearing sermons is a light matter. When the occasion is past, the exhortation closed, the congregations broken up and the Sunday over, they think that all is done and ended. The doors are shut and what they have heard they no longer heed any more than if they had been at the theater, and the curtain had fallen, and the lights were out. To them the Sunday is but as any other day and the preacher but an orator who helps them to while away an hour. But it is not so. Whether we look for a result from the proclamation of God's Word or not, you may be sure God looks for it! No man in his senses sows a field without looking for a harvest. No man engages in trade without expecting profit. Oh, Sirs, God is not mocked! He does not send His Word that it may return unto Him void. Neither does He think that it is enough when His servants have been as those who make pleasant music, or sing a sweet song and the audience may repair to the sanctuary as they would go to a theater—content to be pleased and careless about being profited. Listen, then, to this solemn lesson! For every Sunday that I occupy this place I shall have to give an account before God. My fidelity to my congregation is of such solemn moment that were it not for the infinite mercy of God in Christ Jesus, I feel it had been better for me that I had never been born than to have to render in that account.
Ephraim - The ten tribes. Is joined to idols - Is become incorporated with false gods. Let him alone - They are irreclaimable, leave them to the consequences of their vicious conduct.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֲב֧וּר | chavur | [is] joined of | H2266 → | |
| עֲצַבִּ֛ים | ʾatzabim | idols | H6091 → | 17 times |
| אֶפְרָ֖יִם | ʾefrayim | Ephraim | H669 → | 180 times |
| הַֽנַּֽח־ | hanach- | leave alone | H5117 → | |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | <to> him |
חֲב֧וּר[is] joined of
chavurH2266 →
עֲצַבִּ֛יםidols
ʾatzabimH6091 →17 times
אֶפְרָ֖יִםEphraim
ʾefrayimH669 →180 times
הַֽנַּֽח־leave alone
hanach-H5117 →
לֽוֹ׃<to> him
lo
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
Revelation 22:11Let the unrighteous continue to be unrighteous, and the vile continue to be vile; let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy continue to be holy.”
it leads to
- Daniel 12:10
Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.
- Proverbs 4:18
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- Ezekiel 3:27
But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him…
- 2 Timothy 3:13
while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
- Matthew 15:14
Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
- Daniel 12:10
Through
Psalms 81:12So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:24
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
- Romans 1:24
Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
- Isaiah 30:1
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
- Jeremiah 7:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Hosea
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1140: “Let Him Alone” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 4:17-19; 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.