English Standard Version
Hosea 4:16
16Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?
Hosea 4:16 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
- New International Version (NIV)The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the Lord pasture them like lambs in a meadow?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“For Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the Lord will let them forage Like a lamb in open country.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. So should the Lord feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture?
Context of Hosea 4:16
14I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes, and a people without understanding shall come to ruin. 15Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, "As the Lord lives." Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture? 17Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone. 18When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame.
Read all of Hosea 4Hosea 4:16 word by word
כִּ֚י כְּפָרָ֣ה סֹֽרֵרָ֔ה סָרַ֖ר יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל עַתָּה֙ יִרְעֵ֣ם יְהוָ֔ה כְּכֶ֖בֶשׂ בַּמֶּרְחָֽב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 4:16
- Hosea 11:7My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.
- 1 Samuel 15:11"I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.
- Jeremiah 3:6The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?
- Jeremiah 5:6Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.
- Jeremiah 7:24But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
- Jeremiah 8:5Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.
- Jeremiah 14:7"Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.
- Zechariah 7:11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.
- Leviticus 26:33And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
- Isaiah 7:21In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,
- Isaiah 22:18and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house.
Commentaries on Hosea 4:16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Israel slideth back - They are untractable, like an unbroken heifer or steer, that pulls back, rather than draw in the yoke. Will feed them as a lamb in a large place - A species of irony. Ye shall go to Assyria, and be scattered among the nations; ye may sport yourselves in the extensive empire, wither ye shall be carried captives.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16For Israel slideth back, as a backsliding heifer - The calves which Israel worshiped were pictures of itself. They represented natural, untamed, strength, which, when put to service, started back and shrank from the yoke. “Untractable, petulant, unruly, wanton, it withdrew from the yoke, when it could; if it could not, it drew aside or backward, instead of forward.” So is it rare, exceeding rare, for man to walk straight on in God‘s ways; he jerks…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-19Verses 12-19 The people consulted images, and not the Divine word. This would lead to disorder and sin. Thus men prepare scourges for themselves, and vice is spread through a people. Let not Judah come near the idolatrous worship of Israel. For Israel was devoted to idols, and must now be let alone. When sinners cast off the easy yoke of Christ, they go on in sin till the Lord saith, Let them alone. Then they receive no more warnings, feel no more…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. backsliding--Translate, "Israel is refractory, as a refractory heifer," namely, one that throws the yoke off her neck. Israel had represented God under the form of "calves" (1Ki 12:28); but it is she herself who is one. lamb in a large place--not in a good sense, as in Is 30:23. Here there is irony: lambs like a large pasture; but it is not so safe for them as a small one, duly fenced from wild beasts. God will "feed" them, but it shall be with the…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 4:16
In the dictionaries
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
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