English Standard Version
Hosea 4:6
6My 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.
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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.
Context of Hosea 4:6
4Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest. 5You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother. 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. 7The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame. 8They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.
Read all of Hosea 4Hosea 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 4:12My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore.
- Isaiah 1:3The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."
- Isaiah 3:12My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.
- Isaiah 5:13Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.
- Jeremiah 4:22"For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not."
- Jeremiah 8:7Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the Lord.
- Hosea 4:1Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;
- Hosea 6:6For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- 2 Chronicles 15:3For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law,
- Job 36:12But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
- Proverbs 19:2Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
- Isaiah 27:11When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Isaiah 45:20"Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.
- Jeremiah 5:3O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.
- Matthew 15:14Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
- 2 Corinthians 4:3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
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
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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Commentaries