Hosea 4:6
in Hosea 4My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.
KJV
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
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This verse in Hosea 4
Commentary
9 notes on this verse"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.
This site's exposition
Yet let no man strive
on Hosea 4:4-6
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.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Because the ecclesiastical hierarchy is founded upon Scripture, which is compared to the water of the sea, therefore sentence has been passed against those who do not possess this knowledge. In Hosea: "Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you, that you shall not …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,....
They are my people that are thus destroyed; their relation to God as his people aggravates both their sin in not taking pains to get the knowledge of that God whose command they were under and with whom they were taken into covenant, and likewise the sin of those who should have taught them;
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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.
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
lack of knowledge--"of God" (Ho 4:1), that is, lack of piety. Their ignorance was wilful, as the epithet, "My people," implies; they ought to have known, having the opportunity, as the people of God. thou--O priest, so-called. Not regularly constituted, but still bearing the name, while confounding the worship of Jehovah and of the calves in Beth-el (1Ki 12:29, 31).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - “My people are,” not, “is.” This accurately represents the Hebrew . The word “people” speaks of them as a whole; are, relates to the individuals of whom that whole is composed. Together, the words express the utter destruction of the whole, one and all. They are destroyed “for lack of knowledge,” literally, “of the knowledge,” i. e., the only knowledge, which in the creature is real knowledge, that knowledge, of the want of which he had before complained, the knowledge of the Creator. So Isaiah mourns in the same words , “therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge” Isa 6:13. They are destroyed for lack of it, for the true knowledge of God is the life of the soul, true life, eternal life, as our Saviour saith, “This is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.” The source of this lack of knowledge, so fatal to the people, was the willful rejection of that knowledge by the priest; Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me - God marks the relation between the sin and the punishment, by retorting on them, as it were, their own acts; and that with great emphasis, “I will utterly reject thee . Those, thus addressed, must have been true priests, scattered up and down in Israel, who, in an irregular way, offered sacrifices for them, and connived at their sins. For God’s sentence on them is, “thou shalt be no priest to me.” But the priests whom Jeroboam consecrated out of other tribes than Levi, were priests not to God, but to the calves. […]
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נִדְמ֥וּ | nidmu | they have been destroyed | H1820 → | 15 times |
| עַמִּ֖י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| מִבְּלִ֣י | mibeli | because not | H1097 → | 58 times |
| הַדָּ֑עַת | hadaat | <the> knowledge | H1847 → | 92 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַתָּ֞ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| הַדַּ֣עַת | hadaat | <the> knowledge | H1847 → | 92 times |
| מָאַ֗סְתָּ | maasta | you have rejected | H3988 → | 76 times |
| וְאֶמְאָֽסְאךָ֙ | veemasekha | and I will reject you | H3988 → | 76 times |
| מִכַּהֵ֣ן | mikahen | from serving as a priest | H3547 → | |
| לִ֔י | li | <to> me | ||
| וַתִּשְׁכַּח֙ | vatishkach | and you have forgotten | H7911 → | 102 times |
| תּוֹרַ֣ת | torat | [the] law of | H8451 → | 219 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אֶשְׁכַּ֥ח | ʾeshkach | I will forget | H7911 → | 102 times |
| בָּנֶ֖יךָ | baneikha | children your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אָֽנִי׃ | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
נִדְמ֥וּthey have been destroyed
nidmuH1820 →15 times
עַמִּ֖יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
מִבְּלִ֣יbecause not
mibeliH1097 →58 times
הַדָּ֑עַת<the> knowledge
hadaatH1847 →92 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אַתָּ֞הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
הַדַּ֣עַת<the> knowledge
hadaatH1847 →92 times
מָאַ֗סְתָּyou have rejected
maastaH3988 →76 times
וְאֶמְאָֽסְאךָ֙and I will reject you
veemasekhaH3988 →76 times
מִכַּהֵ֣ןfrom serving as a priest
mikahenH3547 →
לִ֔י<to> me
li
וַתִּשְׁכַּח֙and you have forgotten
vatishkachH7911 →102 times
תּוֹרַ֣ת[the] law of
toratH8451 →219 times
אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
אֶשְׁכַּ֥חI will forget
ʾeshkachH7911 →102 times
בָּנֶ֖יךָchildren your
baneikhaH1121 →4930 times
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
אָֽנִי׃I
ʾaniH589 →874 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
Hosea 6:6For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
it leads to
- Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
- Matthew 12:7
If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
- Proverbs 21:3
To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.
- 1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of…
- Amos 5:21
“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
- Matthew 9:13
Through
Proverbs 19:2Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.
it leads to
- Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent bring plenty, as surely as haste leads to poverty.
- Proverbs 29:20
Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
- Philippians 1:9
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
- Proverbs 21:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Hosea
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); Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 4:6; 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.