Hosea 4:6

Hosea 4:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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.
• New International Version (NIV)my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
• English Standard Version (ESV)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
• New King James Version (NKJV)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Context of Hosea 4:6

4Do not argue among yourselves or accuse one another. It is you priests who are guilty. 5You 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. The 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. 8They get food to eat when the people bring their sin offerings to them. So the priests are happy when the people do bad things, because they get more food to eat.

Hosea 4:6 word by word

נִדְמ֥וּ עַמִּ֖י מִבְּלִ֣י הַדָּ֑עַת כִּֽי־אַתָּ֞ה הַדַּ֣עַת מָאַ֗סְתָּ וְאֶמְאָֽסְאךָ֙ מִכַּהֵ֣ן לִ֔י וַתִּשְׁכַּח֙ תּוֹרַ֣ת אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אֶשְׁכַּ֥ח בָּנֶ֖יךָ גַּם־אָֽנִי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• My peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• are destroyedדָּמָהdâmâh · to ceaseH1820
• for lack of knowledgeדַּ֫עַתda‛ath · knowledgeH1847
• because thou hast rejectedמָאַסmâ'as · to rejectH3988
• thee, that thou shalt be no priestכָּהַןkâhan · to ministerH3547
• to me: seeing thou hast forgottenשָׁכַחshâkach shâkêach · to forgetH7911
• the lawתּוֹרָהtôrâh tôrâh · instructionH8451
• of thy Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• thy childrenבֵּןbên · son: childH1121

Cross-references for Hosea 4:6

• Hosea 4:12They ask wooden idols to tell them what to do! A stick tells them what will happen in the future! They have turned away from me and they have lost their way. They have not been faithful to me, their God, as a prostitute is not faithful to her husband.
• Isaiah 1:3An ox knows its master. A donkey knows the place where its master feeds it. But Israel's people do not know me. My people do not understand me.’
• Isaiah 3:12Now children are cruel to my people and women rule over them. My people, your leaders lead you in the wrong direction. They cannot show you what is right.
• Isaiah 5:13Because of that, my people will go into exile in countries far away. They do not know God. Their leaders will die because they have nothing to eat. All the other people will have nothing to drink.
• Jeremiah 4:22The Lord says, ‘My people are fools. They do not know me. They are like children who do not know anything. They understand nothing. They are very clever at doing evil things. But they do not know how to do what is good.’
• Jeremiah 8:7Even birds know when it is time for them to move to a different place. That is true for storks, doves, swallows and cranes. Birds know when it is time to return, but my people do not know my laws.
• Hosea 4:1Israelites, listen to the Lord's message! The Lord accuses the people who live in Israel of these bad things: ‘Nobody in the land of Israel is faithful. They have no true love. They do not want to know God.
• Hosea 6:6It is faithful love that makes me happy. That would be better than your sacrifices to me. You should know me as your God. That would be better than your burnt offerings.
• 2 Chronicles 15:3For a long time, the Israelites did not serve the true God. They did not have any priests to teach them what was right. They did not know God's law.
• Job 36:12But if they refuse to listen to God, they will go to their graves. They will die and they still will not understand what is right.
• Proverbs 19:2If you want to do something but you do not know how to do it, that is dangerous! If you hurry to do it, you will get into trouble.
• Isaiah 27:11When the branches become dry, they break off the tree. Women will take the sticks and they will make fires with them. That is what these people are like. They do not understand anything. So their Maker will not help them or be kind to them.
• Isaiah 45:20So come, you people of the nations, you who have escaped from war. Bring yourselves in front of me together! People who carry wooden idols are fools! They pray to gods who cannot rescue them.
• Jeremiah 5:3Lord, you want people to be honest and true. You have punished your people, but they did not feel any pain. You nearly destroyed them, but they still refuse to change. Their minds have become as hard as rock. They refuse to turn back to you.
• Matthew 15:14Do not listen to what the Pharisees say. They are blind, but they try to show people which way to go. A blind person cannot lead another blind person. If he does, then both of them will fall into a deep hole.’
• 2 Corinthians 4:3Some people may not understand the good news that we speak. They are only the people who are losing their lives with God.

Commentaries on Hosea 4:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - They have not the knowledge of God, nor of sacred things, nor of their own interest, nor of the danger to which they are exposed. They walk on blindly, and perish. Because thou hast rejected knowledge - So they might have become wise, had they not rejected the means of improvement. Thou shalt be no priest to me - If this be the true reading, there must be reference to some particular priest, well known, to…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - “My people are,” not, “is.” This accurately represents the Hebrew. The word “people” speaks of them as a whole; are, relates to the individuals of whom that whole is composed. Together, the words express the utter destruction of the whole, one and all. They are destroyed “for lack of knowledge,” literally, “of the knowledge,” i. e., the only knowledge, which in the creature is real knowledge, that knowledge…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 6-11Verses 6-11 Both priests and people rejected knowledge; God will justly reject them. They forgot the law of God, neither desired nor endeavoured to retain it in mind, and to transmit the remembrance to their posterity; therefore God will justly forget them and their children. If we dishonour God with that which is our honour, it will, sooner or later, be turned into shame to us. Instead of warning the people against sin, from the consideration of the…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6Since the priests refused to know the Lord, the people also did not know their God. As a result, the people were being destroyed. A main role of the priests of Israel was to know, practice, and teach the laws of God. Ironically, these guardians of the law had forgotten it.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. lack of knowledge--"of God" (Ho 4:1), that is, lack of piety. Their ignorance was wilful, as the epithet, "My people," implies; they ought to have known, having the opportunity, as the people of God. thou--O priest, so-called. Not regularly constituted, but still bearing the name, while confounding the worship of Jehovah and of the calves in Beth-el (1Ki 12:29, 31). I will ... forget thy children--Not only those who then were alive should be deprived…Read the comment

Topics related to Hosea 4:6

• Backsliders
• Blindness
• Forgetting God
• Ignorance
• Knowledge
• Minister, Christian
• Sin

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Languish
• Reject
• Hosea
• Moses
• Pentateuch
• Priests and Levites
• Text of the Old Testament
• Zechariah, Book of

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