Hosea 4:3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 4:1-5

Here is, I. The court set, and both attendance and attention demanded: ?Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for to you is the word of this conviction sent, whether you will hear or whether you will forbear.? Whom may God expect to give him a fair hearing, and take from him a fair warning, but the children of Israel, his own professing people? Yea, they will be ready enough to hear when God speaks comfortably to them; but are they willing to hear when he has a controversy with... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:3

Therefore shall the land mourn ,.... Because of the calamities on it, the devastations made in it; nothing growing upon it, through a violent drought; or the grass and corn being trodden down, or eaten up, by a foreign army: and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish ; that is, every man, an inhabitant thereof, shall become weak, languish away, and die through wounds received by the enemy; or for want of food, or being infected with the wasting and destroying pestilence: with... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:3

Therefore shall the land mourn - Fruitful seasons shall be denied. That dwelleth therein shall languish - Endemic and epidemic disorders shall prevail, and multitudes shall die; so that mourning shall be found in all quarters. The beasts of the field, and with the fowls - There is a death of cattle and domestic animals, in consequence of the badness of the season. The fishes of the sea also shall be taken away - Those immense shoals which at certain seasons frequent the coasts,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:3

Verse 3 The Prophet now expresses more clearly the dispute which he mentions in the first verse; and it now evidently appears, that it was not a judgment expressed in words, for God had in vain tried to bring the people to the right way by threats and reproofs: he had contended enough with then; they remained refractory; hence he adds, “Now mourn shall the whole land”; that is, God has now resolved to execute his judgment: there is therefore no use for you any more to contrive any evasion, as... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:1-5

Israel's sin and consequent suffering. The prophet is Jehovah's mouth-piece, and as such he calls on his fellow-men to hear the word of the Lord; he thus speaks by commission and with authority. Having thus claimed an attentive hearing in his Master's Name, he denounces Israel's sins, and declares the judgments that await them. In this discharge of his duty the prophet has a twofold object in view. By his timely and truthful warning he hopes to reclaim some, at least, of his countrymen, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:1-5

The Lord's lawsuit. The introduction to the Book of Hoses consists of a symbolical narrative, contained in Hosea 1-3. The body of the book is occupied with discourses, which are full of mingled reproaches, threatenings, and promises. Hosea 4:1-19 . evidently reflects the condition of the nation during the interregnum which followed the death of Jeroboam II . The key-word of the first strophe ( Hosea 4:1-5 ) is the word "controversy" ( Hosea 4:1 ), used in the sense of a legal... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:1-5

The Lord's controversy. God had a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. The essential part of the indictment was that they had forsaken him . "There is no knowledge of God in the land." Hence— I. A FEARFUL OVERFLOWING OF IMMORALITY . 1. With the knowledge of God there had departed also "truth and mercy" ( Hosea 4:1 ). "Truth" and "mercy," or "kindness," are root-principles of morals. The subversion of them is the subversion of morality in its foundations. These... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:3-5

These verses relate, with much particularity, the sufferings consequent on sins, especially such as are specified in the preceding verses. The montaging of the land mentioned in Hosea 4:3 may be understood either figuratively or literally. If in the former way, there are many Scripture parallels which represent nature in full accord with human feelings, sympathizing with man, now in joy, again in sorrow; for example: "The little hills rejoice on every side;" the valleys "shout for joy,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:3-5

A terrible deprivation. "Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother." These words lead us to consider a lamentable... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Hosea 4:3

Therefore shall the land mourn - Dumb inanimate nature seems to rejoice and to be in unison with our sense of joy, when bedewed and fresh through rain and radiant with light; and, again, to mourn, when smitten with drought or blight or disease, or devoured by the creatures which God employs to lay it waste for man’s sins. Dumb nature is, as it were, in sympathy with man, cursed in Adam, smitten amid man’s offences, its outward show responding to man’s inward heart, wasted, parched, desolate,... read more

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