Hosea 5:4
in Hosea 5Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not Jehovah.
KJV
They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.
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This verse in Hosea 5
Commentary
9 notes on this verse"And I am skilled in all of them, and I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me: for now Ephraim has committed fornication, Israel is contaminated: they will not give their thoughts, to turn again to their God, for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord." LXX: "For I am your master: I have known Ephraim, and Israel has not departed from me; for now Ephraim has fornicated, Israel is defiled.
This site's exposition
I know Ephraim
on Hosea 5:3-5
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me answers every excuse before it is made, the Lord's knowledge of the nation as complete as his knowledge of Gomer, and Ephraim's whoredom named as the same unfaithfulness the book's opening chapters dramatized in one marriage. Their doings will not turn them to God because the spirit of whoredoms is settled in the midst of them, an inward disposition rather than a single lapse, so that they have not known the Lord even while claiming his name. The pride of Israel testifies to his own face, and Judah is drawn down with Ephraim and Israel, the southern kingdom's fall tied to the northern kingdom's example, the bench reading this as an early warning of Judah's own coming exile.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
First the king [Jeroboam I] chose to play the whore away from the worship of God, wishing to adore golden calves. And the people followed him willingly—with equal zeal they accomplished equal ungodliness. They do not return to the Lord, for they found what they were looking for, and the spirit of whoredom—which according to the apostle "works in the sons of distrust"6—holds their hearts captive. As long as it governs, they will not know the Lord. In fact, they forgot their Creator.… They—whoever advances in ruin—do not have thoughts of penitence.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God,....
This intimates their obstinate persistence in their apostasy from God; they would not turn to God, though he was their God, theirs in covenant, by whose name they had been called, and whom they were bound to serve. They would not return to the worship of him, from which they had turned aside.
Note, Men's rejecting the knowledge of God will not secure them from his knowledge of them; and when he contends with them he will prove their sins upon them by his own knowledge, so that is will be in vain to plead Not guilty. Very bad things are laid to their charge.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They will not frame their doings ... - They were possessed by an evil spirit, impelling and driving them to sin; “the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them,” i. e., in their very inward self, their center, so to speak; in their souls, where reside the will, the reason, the judgment; and so long as they did not, by the strength of God, dislodge him, they would and could not frame their acts, so as to repent and turn to God.
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
The Hebrew is against the Margin, their doings will not suffer them" the omission of "them" in the Hebrew after the verb being unusual. The sense is, they are incurable, for they will not permit (as the Hebrew literally means) their doings to be framed so as to turn unto God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
They will not frame their doings - They never purpose to turn to God, they have fully imbibed the spirit of idolatry.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֤א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִתְּנוּ֙ | yitenu | they permit | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| מַ֣עַלְלֵיהֶ֔ם | maaleihem | deeds their | H4611 → | 41 times |
| לָשׁ֖וּב | lashuv | to return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֑ם | ʾeloheihem | God their | H430 → | 2601 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| ר֤וּחַ | ruach | a spirit of | H7307 → | 378 times |
| זְנוּנִים֙ | zenunim | prostitution<s> | H2183 → | 12 times |
| בְּקִרְבָּ֔ם | bekirbam | [is] in inner being their | H7130 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָדָֽעוּ׃ | yadau | they know | H3045 → | 945 times |
לֹ֤אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִתְּנוּ֙they permit
yitenuH5414 →2011 times
מַ֣עַלְלֵיהֶ֔םdeeds their
maaleihemH4611 →41 times
לָשׁ֖וּבto return
lashuvH7725 →1056 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֑םGod their
ʾeloheihemH430 →2601 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
ר֤וּחַa spirit of
ruachH7307 →378 times
זְנוּנִים֙prostitution<s>
zenunimH2183 →12 times
בְּקִרְבָּ֔ם[is] in inner being their
bekirbamH7130 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יָדָֽעוּ׃they know
yadauH3045 →945 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
Jeremiah 9:24But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,”…
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 10:17
Rather, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
- Galatians 6:14
But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
- 1 Corinthians 1:31
Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
- Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Micah 7:18
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- 2 Corinthians 10:17
Through
Hosea 4:1Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:22
“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Micah 6:2
Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:
- Jeremiah 4:22
Through
Hosea 4:12My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 2:27
say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble…
- Jeremiah 2:27
About Hosea
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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 5:3-4; Jerome, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
