Hosea 4:11-14 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 4:6-11

God is here proceeding in his controversy both with the priests and with the people. The people were as those that strove with the priests (Hos. 4:4) when they had priests that did their duty; but the generality of them lived in the neglect of their duty, and here is a word for those priests, and for the people that love to have it so, Jer. 5:31. And it is observable here how the punishment answers to the sin, and how, for the justifying of his own proceedings, God sets the one over-against... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 4:12-19

In these verses we have, as before, I. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, for which God had a controversy with them, and they are, 1. Spiritual whoredom, or idolatry. They have in them a spirit of whoredoms, a strong inclination to that sin; the bent and bias of their hearts are that way; it is their own iniquity; they are carried out towards it with an unaccountable violence, and this causes them to err. Note, The errors and mistakes of the judgment are commonly owing to the corrupt... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:11

Whoredom and wine, and new wine, take away the heart. Uncleanness and intemperance besot men, deprive them of reason and judgment, and even of common sense, make them downright fools, and so stupid as to do the following things; or they take away the heart from following the Lord, and taking heed to him, and lead to idolatry; or they "occupy" F26 יקח לב "occupant cor", so some in Calvin and Rivet; "occupavit cor", Schmidt. the heart, and fill it up, and cause it to prefer sensual... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:12

My people ask counsel at their stocks ,.... Or "at his wood" F1 בעצו "in ligno suo", V. L. Montanus, Calvin; "liguum suum", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. , or stick; his wooden image, as the Targum; their wooden gods, their idols made of wood, mere stocks and blocks, without life or sense, and much less reason and understanding, and still less divinity. Reference is here had either to the matter of which an idol was made, being the trunk of a tree, or a block of wood;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:13

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains ,.... The highest part of them, nearest to the heavens, where they built their altars to idols, and offered sacrifice unto them, as we often read in Scripture they did: and burn incense upon the hills ; to their idols, which was one kind of sacrifice put for all others: under oaks, and poplars, and elms ; and indeed under every green tree that grew upon them, where there were groves of them raised up for this purpose; see Jeremiah 2:20 ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:14

I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredoms, nor your spouses when they commit adultery ,.... Either not punish them at all, so that they shall go on in sin, and to a greater degree, to the disgrace and reproach of their parents and husbands; or not as yet, or not so severely in them, because it was by their example they were led into it. Jarchi's note is very impertinent, that God threatens them with the disuse of the bitter waters of jealousy. The words are by some rendered... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:11

Whoredom and wine - These debaucheries go generally together. Take away the heart - Darken the understanding, deprave the judgment, pervert the will, debase all the passions, etc. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:12

At their stocks - They consult their wooden gods. And their staff declareth - They use divination by rods; see the note on Ezekiel 21 (note), where this sort of divination (rabdomancy) is explained. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:13

Under oaks - אלון allon , from אלל alal , he was strong. Hence, the oak, in Latin, is called robur ; which word means also, strength, the oak being the strongest of all the trees of the forest. The shadow thereof is good - Their "daughters committed whoredom, and their spouses committed adultery." Their deities were worshipped by prostitution. They drank much in their idol worship, Hosea 4:11 , and thus their passions became inflamed. 3. The thick groves were favorable... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:14

I will not punish - Why should you be stricken any more; ye will revolt more and more. When God, in judgment, removes his judgments, the case of that people is desperate. While there is hope, there is correction. Themselves are separated - There is a reference here to certain debaucheries which should not be described. The state of the people at this time must have been abominable beyond all precedent; animal, sensual, bestial, diabolical: women consecrating themselves to serve their... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 4:6-11

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 4:12-19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:11

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:12

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:13

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:14

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:11

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:12

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:13

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:14

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