Hosea 4:5
in Hosea 4You will stumble by day, and the prophet will stumble with you by night; so I will destroy your mother—
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thou shalt stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with thee in the night; and I will destroy thy mother.
KJV
Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
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This verse in Hosea 4
Commentary
14 notes on this verse"Nevertheless, let no one judge, and let no man be accused: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest, and thou shalt fall this day, and the prophet shall fall with thee." LXX: "That no one be judged, nor anyone be rebuked: but my people are like a priest who is contradicted, and shall be weakened" "during the day, and the prophet shall be weakened with thee." According to the Septuagint interpreters, what we have placed "that no one be judged or rebuked," should be combined with the previous chapter, but we follow the Hebrews.
This site's exposition
let no man contend
on Hosea 4:4-6
No one is to bring a charge, and priest and prophet stumble together. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" is the chapter's hinge, and verse 6 lays the lack on the priests, who "rejected knowledge". The LORD rejects them as priests and forgets their children.
This site's exposition
You will stumble by day
John Wesley took the prophet as one who prophesied lies and the mother as the kingdom itself. Albert Barnes noted that the stumbling comes by day, when a traveller least expects it, citing John 11:9-10. The night brings the prophet down as well.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Of the ones who first made use of false predictions to deceive you, most will also themselves become weak because of the calamity that holds them back. As if they were wrapped up in some kind of night darkness, they see the pursuit of deceit, …
"Day continues according to your ordinance." For all these things are day: "and this is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" and "let us walk honestly as in the day." "For all things serve you." He said "all things of some," "all" which belong to this day "serve you." For the ungodly, of whom it is said, "I have compared thy mother unto the night," do not serve you.
One says that Israel will be weak not forever but for days. For it has been reserved for her a time of salvation and a return to faith.
For us too, you see, once the night of this age is done, there will be a resurrection of the flesh for the kingdom; it's the model or sample of this that has already occurred in our head. That, indeed, is why the Lord wished to rise again at night; because, in the apostle's words, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, has shone in our hearts." So the Lord represented light shining out of darkness by being born at night and also by rising at night. Light out of darkness, in fact, is Christ out of the Jews, to whom it was said, "I have likened your mother to night." But in that nation, as it were in that night, the virgin Mary was not night but somehow or other a star of the night; which is why a star also signaled her childbearing, guiding a far distant night, that is the magi from the east, to worship the light. Thus in them too would be realized the command to "the light to shine out of darkness."
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The prophet - Prophesied lies. In the night - In the darkest calamities. Thy mother - Both the state, or kingdom; and the synagogues, or churches: the publick is as a mother to private persons, so all shall be destroyed.
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The Sins of the Priests and People. 6 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. 7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:95%@v6-8
Note, Those that would be kept from sin, and not fall into the devil's hands, must studiously avoid the occasions of sin and not come upon the devil's ground. (2.) That they might not be guilty of idolatry they must take heed of profaneness, and not swear, The Lord liveth. They are commanded to swear, The Lord liveth in truth and righteousness ( Jer. iv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Therefore shall thou fall in the day,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Therefore shalt thou fall - The two parts of the verse fill up each other. “By day and by night shall they fall, people and prophets together.” Their calamities should come upon them successively, day and night. They should stumble by day, when there is least fear of stumbling Joh 11:9-10; and night should not by its darkness protect them.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
fall in the day--in broad daylight, a time when an attack would not be expected (see on Jer 6:4, 5; Jer 15:8). in . . . night--No time, night or day, shall be free from the slaughter of individuals of the people, as well as of the false prophets. thy mother--the Israelitish state, of which the citizens are the children (Ho 2:2).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Therefore shalt thou fall in the day - In the most open and public manner, without snare or ambush. And the prophet also shall fall - in the night - The false prophet, when employed in taking prognostications from stars, meteors, etc. And I will destroy thy mother - The metropolis or mother city. Jerusalem or Samaria is meant.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכָשַׁלְתָּ֣ | vekhashalta | and you will stumble | H3782 → | 62 times |
| הַיּ֔וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וְכָשַׁ֧ל | vekhashal | and he will stumble | H3782 → | 62 times |
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| נָבִ֛יא | navi' | a prophet | H5030 → | 314 times |
| עִמְּךָ֖ | ʾimekha | with you | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| לָ֑יְלָה | layelah | night | H3915 → | |
| וְדָמִ֖יתִי | vedamiti | and I will destroy | H1820 → | 15 times |
| אִמֶּֽךָ׃ | ʾimekha | mother your | H517 → | 220 times |
וְכָשַׁלְתָּ֣and you will stumble
vekhashaltaH3782 →62 times
הַיּ֔וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
וְכָשַׁ֧לand he will stumble
vekhashalH3782 →62 times
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
נָבִ֛יאa prophet
navi'H5030 →314 times
עִמְּךָ֖with you
ʾimekhaH5973 →1050 times
לָ֑יְלָהnight
layelahH3915 →
וְדָמִ֖יתִיand I will destroy
vedamitiH1820 →15 times
אִמֶּֽךָ׃mother your
ʾimekhaH517 →220 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
Galatians 4:26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
it leads to
- Hebrews 12:22
Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels
- Revelation 21:2
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
- Philippians 3:20
But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- Revelation 3:12
The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the…
- Micah 4:1–2
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to…
- Hebrews 12:22
Through
Zechariah 13:2And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 22:22
And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’
- Hosea 2:17
For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.
- Jeremiah 23:14–15
And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness.…
- 1 Kings 22:22
Where this verse is studied
About Hosea
This page draws on 13 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); Augustine of Hippo, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 119:91; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 223D.2; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 3:37; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 4:4-5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodore of Mopsuestia, COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 4.