Hosea 5:4

Hosea 5:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.
• New International Version (NIV)“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the Lord.

Context of Hosea 5:4

2People have turned against me and they have murdered many people. So I will warn them all and I will punish them. 3I know what the people of Ephraim are like. The Israelites cannot hide their sins from me. You are no better than prostitutes! You can no longer serve me as my people. Yes, the sins of the Israelites do not allow them to return to me, the Lord their God. They are not faithful to me and they love to worship idols. They do not want to know me. 5The Israelites are proud of what they do, and that shows that they are guilty. Their sins cause them to fall into great trouble. That will happen to the people of Israel and Ephraim. And the people of Judah will fall with them. 6They take their sheep and cows to offer as sacrifices to the Lord. They want the Lord to help them, but he does not answer them. They cannot find him because he has gone away from them.

Hosea 5:4 word by word

לֹ֤א יִתְּנוּ֙ מַ֣עַלְלֵיהֶ֔ם לָשׁ֖וּב אֶל־אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֑ם כִּ֣י ר֤וּחַ זְנוּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔ם וְאֶת־יְהוָ֖ה לֹ֥א יָדָֽעוּ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• They will not frameנָתַןnâthan · to give: allowH5414
• their doingsמַעֲלָלma‛ălâl · deedH4611
• to turnשׁוּבshûb · to return: returnH7725
• unto their Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• for the spiritרוּחַrûach · spiritH7307
• of whoredomsזְנוּנִיםzânûn · fornicationH2183
• in the midstקֶ֫רֶבqereb · entrails: amongH7130
• of them, and they have not knownיָדַעyâda‛ · to knowH3045
• the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068

Cross-references for Hosea 5:4

• Psalms 36:1A wicked person turns against God completely. He does not respect God.
• Psalms 78:8So they would not be like their ancestors, who turned against God. Those people refused to obey God, and they did not trust him to be their guide.
• John 3:19God's Son has brought light into the world. But some people did not love the light. They loved the dark instead. That was because they were doing evil things. That is why God has decided to punish those people.
• 2 Thessalonians 2:11For this reason, God causes their minds to accept something that is wrong. They believe a false message.
• 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.
• Jeremiah 50:38There will be no rain on the land so that the rivers and streams become dry. I will send all this trouble because their whole land is full of idols. The people become crazy because they are afraid of their idols.
• 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.
• 1 Samuel 2:12Eli's sons were wicked men. They did not respect the Lord.
• Psalms 9:10Everyone who knows you, Lord, trusts in you. You will never turn away from anyone who comes to you for help.
• Jeremiah 9:6They hurt and they deceive each other. They do that more and more. They refuse to respect me.’ That is what the Lord says.
• Jeremiah 22:15Are you better than other kings because you use more cedar wood to build your palace? Think about how your father lived. He did what was right and fair. He had enough to eat and to drink. So he was happy with a good life.
• Jeremiah 24:7I will cause them to want to know me. They will know that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God, because they will choose to return to me.”
• John 8:55You have never known him, but I know him. I might say, “I do not know him.” But then I would be telling a lie. So I would be like you. But I do know him, and I obey his words.
• John 16:3They will do these things to you because they have never known either the Father or me.
• 1 John 2:3This is how we can be sure that we know God: If we obey God's commands, we know that we belong to him.

Commentaries on Hosea 5:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4They will not frame their doings - They never purpose to turn to God, they have fully imbibed the spirit of idolatry.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4They will not frame their doings … - They were possessed by an evil spirit, impelling and driving them to sin; “the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them,” i. e., in their very inward self, their center, so to speak; in their souls, where reside the will, the reason, the judgment; and so long as they did not, by the strength of God, dislodge him, they would and could not frame their acts, so as to repent and turn to God. For a mightier impulse…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4Israel’s worship of idols was so deeply rooted that the people seemed unable to return to the Lord. the spirit of prostitution is within them: Israel’s sin was not only an action. It had become part of the nation’s basic character. The people naturally chose what was corrupt instead of what was pure. Only through God’s saving work could Israel be freed from this.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. They--Turning from a direct address to Ephraim, he uses the third person plural to characterize the people in general. The Hebrew is against the Margin, their doings will not suffer them" the omission of "them" in the Hebrew after the verb being unusual. The sense is, they are incurable, for they will not permit (as the Hebrew literally means) their doings to be framed so as to turn unto God. Implying that they resist the Spirit of God, not suffering…Read the comment

Topics related to Hosea 5:4

• Backsliders
• Blindness
• Impenitence
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Profound
• Rebuke
• Frame
• Hosea
• Zechariah, Book of

Commentaries on Hosea 5

• 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