Hosea 4:5

Hosea 4:5 in other versions

• King James Version (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.
• New International Version (NIV)You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother—
• English Standard Version (ESV)You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; And I will destroy your mother.

Context of Hosea 4:5

3Because of this, the land will become like a desert. Everyone who lives there will become weak. Everything will die: the wild animals, the birds, and even the fish in the sea. 4Do not argue among yourselves or accuse one another. It is you priests who are guilty. You are always falling over. In the day and in the night, you trip and you fall. The false prophets are the same as you. So I will destroy Israel, your mother. 6The people do not know me. Because of that, they will come to an end. You refuse to respect my authority, so I will remove you as my priests. You refuse to obey the law of your God, so I will refuse to accept your children as my priests. 7The more priests that there are among you, the more sins they do against me. They should have received honour as priests, but I will make them ashamed.

Hosea 4:5 word by word

וְכָשַׁלְתָּ֣ הַיּ֔וֹם וְכָשַׁ֧ל גַּם־נָבִ֛יא עִמְּךָ֖ לָ֑יְלָה וְדָמִ֖יתִי אִמֶּֽךָ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Therefore shalt thou fallכָּשַׁלkâshal · to stumbleH3782
• in the dayיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• and the prophetנָבִיאnâbîy' · prophetH5030
• with thee in the nightלַ֫יְלָהlayil lêyl layelâh · nightH3915
• and I will destroyדָּמָהdâmâh · to ceaseH1820
• thy motherאֵם'êm · motherH517

Cross-references for Hosea 4:5

• Hosea 9:7The time for Israel's punishment has arrived! The Lord must now pay them back for their sins. The Israelites will soon know about it! You do many sins and you hate the Lord. Because of that, you say that his prophets are fools. You think that his messengers are crazy.
• Isaiah 9:13The people did not turn back to the Lord Almighty, who had punished them. They did not ask for his help.
• Jeremiah 6:4They will say to their soldiers, ‘Get ready to attack the city! We will attack at noon!’ But if the day is almost finished, they will say, ‘It is already evening and it will soon be dark.
• Jeremiah 8:10I will give their wives to other men. Their fields will belong to other men. They all cheat other people to get what they want. Important people and ordinary people do that. Prophets and priests do that. They love to deceive people.
• Jeremiah 14:15They claim to speak with my authority, but I did not send them. They say that there will be no war or famine. So I tell you, this is what will happen to those prophets: War and famine will kill them.
• Jeremiah 15:8There will be more widows in Judah, than there is sand on the shore of the sea. At midday I will send an enemy to destroy the young men. Their mothers will weep for them. It will happen very suddenly. Fear and terror will come!
• Jeremiah 23:9I am very upset about what the prophets are doing. My body is shaking. I move like a man who has become drunk, someone who has drunk too much wine. I am afraid because of the Lord and the holy message that he has spoken.
• Ezekiel 13:9I will punish the prophets who see false visions and who tell lies. They will not be among the leaders of my people. They will not be on the list of people who are true Israelites. They will not even return to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Almighty Lord.
• Ezekiel 14:8I will be that person's enemy. I will punish him to make him an example to others. Other people will see that he is not good. I will not allow him to belong to my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
• Micah 3:5The Lord says this: ‘It will be very bad for the prophets who tell false messages. They lead my people the wrong way with false promises. If people give food to them, then they are happy. So they promise that there will be no war. But, if people do not feed them, they become angry. They promise that war will come.
• Zechariah 11:8In one month, I sent away three shepherds. They did not like me and I was not patient with them.
• Zechariah 13:2The Lord Almighty says, ‘On that day, I will remove the names of false gods from the country. Everyone will forget them. I will remove all the false prophets. And I will remove the bad spirit that is not holy.
• Hosea 2:2My children, warn your mother! She is no longer my wife. I am not her husband. Tell her that she must stop living like a prostitute. She must stop having sex with other men instead of me.
• Isaiah 50:1This is what the Lord says to his people: ‘Did I send your mother away, like a man sends away his wife? Where is the paper to say why I have sent her away? Did I sell you to pay people that I was in debt to? Where is the paper that shows the reason for my debt? Listen! I sold you because of your sins. I sent your mother away because you have not obeyed me.
• Jeremiah 50:12Babylon is like your mother who gave you life, but she will become ashamed. Yes, she will become the least important of all nations. The country will be dry and empty, like a desert.
• Ezekiel 16:44Look! Everyone says that this proverb is true about you: A daughter will do the same things that her mother does.

Commentaries on Hosea 4:5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Therefore 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.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Therefore 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 John 11:9-10; and night should not by its darkness protect them. Evil should come “at noon-day” Jeremiah 15:8 upon them, seeing it, but unable to repel it; as Isaiah speaks of it as…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-5When accused of a crime, people often blame others. However, God made it clear that Israel’s apostasy was the fault of its religious leaders, priests, and false prophets. God’s judgment on the priests and prophets was that they would stumble and fall, both in their work and in their personal lives. (The same Hebrew word is used for both kinds of stumbling.)Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. fall in the day--in broad daylight, a time when an attack would not be expected (see on Jr 6:4, 5; Jr 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).Read the comment

Topics related to Hosea 4:5

• Sin

In the dictionaries

• Languish
• Reject
• Hosea
• Mother
• Priests and Levites
• Zechariah, Book of
• stumble, reeling

Commentaries on Hosea 4

• 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