Amplified Bible
Hosea 3:4
4For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or [idolatrous] pillar, and without ephod or teraphim (household idols).
Hosea 3:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
- New International Version (NIV)For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.
Context of Hosea 3:4
2So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley [the price of a common slave]. 3And I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the prostitute nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you [until you have proved your faithfulness].” For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or [idolatrous] pillar, and without ephod or teraphim (household idols). 5Afterward the sons of Israel will return [in deep repentance] and seek the Lord their God and [seek from the line of] David their king [the King of kings—the Messiah]; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness and blessing in the last days.
Read all of Hosea 3Hosea 3:4 word by word
כִּ֣י׀ יָמִ֣ים רַבִּ֗ים יֵֽשְׁבוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֵ֥ין מֶ֙לֶךְ֙ וְאֵ֣ין שָׂ֔ר וְאֵ֥ין זֶ֖בַח וְאֵ֣ין מַצֵּבָ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין אֵפ֖וֹד וּתְרָפִֽים׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- For the childrenבֵּןbên · son: descendant/peopleH1121
- of Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
- shall abideיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
- manyרַבrab · manyH7227
- daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
- without a kingמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
- and without a princeשַׂרώar · rulerH8269
- and without a sacrificeזֶ֫בַחzebach · sacrificeH2077
- and without an imageמַצֵּבָהmatstsêbâh · pillarH4676
- and without an ephodאֵפוֹד'êphôd 'êphôd · ephodH646
- teraphimתְּרָפִיםterâphîym · teraphimH8655
Cross-references for Hosea 3:4
- Hosea 10:3Surely now they will say [in despair], “We have no [true] king, For we do not revere the Lord; And as for the king, what can he do for us [to rescue us]?”
- Genesis 49:10The scepter [of royalty] shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh [the Messiah, the Peaceful One] comes, And to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
- Jeremiah 15:4I will make them an object of horror to all nations of the earth because of Manasseh [the despicable] son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for the [evil and detestable] things which he did in Jerusalem.
- John 19:15But they shouted, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
- 2 Chronicles 15:2and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him, as your soul’s first necessity], He will let you find Him; but if you abandon (turn away from) Him, He will abandon (turn away from) you.
- Daniel 8:11Indeed, it magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host [of heaven]; and it took away from Him the daily sacrifice (burnt offering), and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down (profaned).
- Daniel 9:27And he will enter into a binding and irrevocable covenant with the many for one week (seven years), but in the middle of the week he will stop the sacrifice and grain offering [for the remaining three and one-half years]; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until the complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who causes the horror.”
- Daniel 12:11From the time that the regular sacrifice [that is, the daily burnt offering] is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up [ruining the temple for worship of the true God], there will be 1,290 days.
- Matthew 24:1Jesus left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to the [magnificent and massive] buildings of the temple.
- Luke 21:24And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (completed).
- Acts 6:13They presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the Law [of Moses];
- Hebrews 10:26For if we go on willfully and deliberately sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice [to atone] for our sins [that is, no further offering to anticipate],
- Isaiah 19:19In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the Lord near its border.
- Exodus 28:4These are the garments which they shall make: a breastpiece and an ephod [for the breastpiece] and a robe and a tunic of checkered work, a turban, and a sash. They shall make sacred garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, so that he may serve as a priest to Me.
- Leviticus 8:7He put the undertunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him in the robe, and put the ephod (an upper vestment) on him. He tied the [skillfully woven] band of the ephod around him, with which he secured it to Aaron.
- Judges 8:27Gideon made [all the golden earrings into] an ephod [a sacred, high priest’s garment], and put it in his city of Ophrah, and all Israel worshiped it as an idol there, and it became a trap for Gideon and his household.
Commentaries on Hosea 3:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Many days without a king - Hitherto this prophecy has been literally fulfilled. Since the destruction of the temple by the Romans they have neither had king nor prince, nor any civil government of their own, but have lived in different nations of the earth as mere exiles. They have neither priests nor sacrifices nor urim nor thummim; no prophet, no oracle, no communication of any kind from God. Without an image ephod - teraphim - The Septuagint read…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4For the children of Israel shall abide many days - The condition described is one in which there should be no civil polity, none of the special temple-service, nor yet the idolatry, which they had hitherto combined with it or substituted for it. “King and prince” include both higher and lower governors. Judah had “kings” before the captivity, and a sort of “prince” in her governors after it. Judah remained still a polity, although without the glory of her…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-5Verses 4-5 Here is the application of the parable to Israel. They must long sit like a widow, stripped of all joys and honours; but shall at length be received again. Those that would seek the Lord so as to find him, must apply to Christ, and become his willing people. Not only are we to fear the Lord and his greatness, but the Lord and his goodness; not only his majesty, but his mercy. Even Jewish writers apply this passage to the promised Messiah…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-4Just as Hosea’s wife had to live many days without sexual relations, Israel would be without its key institutions, practices, and objects. These included the king or prince, sacrifices, and sacred pillars or idols, which were central to its life and worship.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. The long period here foretold was to be one in which Israel should have no civil polity, king, or prince, no sacrifice to Jehovah, and yet no idol, or false god, no ephod, or teraphim. Exactly describing their state for the last nineteen centuries, separate from idols, yet without any legal sacrifice to Jehovah, whom they profess to worship, and without being acknowledged by Him as His Church. So Kimchi, a Jew, explains it. The ephod was worn by the…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 3:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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