God’s Word Translation
Hosea 7:4
4They all commit adultery. They are like a heated oven, an oven so hot that a baker doesn’t have to fan its flames when he makes bread.
Hosea 7:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.
- New International Version (NIV)They are all adulterers, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises.
- English Standard Version (ESV)They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened.
Context of Hosea 7:4
2They don’t realize that I remember all the evil things they’ve done. Now their sins surround them. Their sins are in my presence. 3“They make kings happy with the wicked things they do. They make officials happy with the lies they tell. They all commit adultery. They are like a heated oven, an oven so hot that a baker doesn’t have to fan its flames when he makes bread. 5On the day of the king’s celebration, the officials become drunk from wine, and the king joins mockers. 6They become hot like an oven while they lie in ambush. All night long their anger smolders, but in the morning it burns like a raging fire.
Read all of Hosea 7Hosea 7:4 word by word
כֻּלָּם֙ מְנָ֣אֲפִ֔ים כְּמ֣וֹ תַנּ֔וּר בֹּעֵ֖רָה מֵֽאֹפֶ֑ה יִשְׁבּ֣וֹת מֵעִ֔יר מִלּ֥וּשׁ בָּצֵ֖ק עַד־חֻמְצָתֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- all adulterersנָאַףnâ'aph · to commit adulteryH5003
- as an ovenתַּנּוּרtannûr · ovenH8574
- heatedבָּעַרbâ‛ar · to burn: burnH1197
- by the bakerאָפָה'âphâh · to bakeH644
- ceasethשָׁבַתshâbath · to ceaseH7673
- from raisingעוּר‛ûr · to rouseH5782
- after he hath kneadedלוּשׁlûsh · to kneadH3888
- the doughבָּצֵקbâtsêq · doughH1217
- until it be leavenedחָמֵץchâmêts · be sourH2556
Cross-references for Hosea 7:4
- Hosea 4:2There is cursing, lying, murdering, stealing, and adultery. People break ⌞my laws⌟, and there is one murder after another.
- Jeremiah 5:7“Why should I forgive you? Your children abandoned me. They took godless oaths. They committed adultery, even though I satisfied their needs. They traveled in crowds to the houses of prostitutes.
- Jeremiah 9:2I wish I had a place to stay in the desert. I would abandon my people and go away from them. They are all adulterers, a mob of traitors.
- James 4:4You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that love for this ⌞evil⌟ world is hatred toward God? Whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.
- Hosea 7:6They become hot like an oven while they lie in ambush. All night long their anger smolders, but in the morning it burns like a raging fire.
Commentaries on Hosea 7:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4As an oven heated by the baker - Calmet's paraphrase on this and the following verses expresses pretty nearly the sense: Hosea makes a twofold comparison of the Israelites; to an oven, and to dough. Jeroboam set fire to his own oven - his kingdom - and put the leaven in his dough; and afterwards went to rest, that the fire might have time to heat his oven, and the leaven to raise his dough, that the false principles which he introduced might infect the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4They are all adulterers - The prophet continues to picture the corruption of all kinds and degrees of people. “All of them,” king, princes, people; all were given to adultery, both spiritual, in departing from God, and actual, (for both sorts of sins went together,) in defiling themselves and others. “All of them” were, (so the word means,) habitual “adulterers.” One only pause there was in their sin, the preparation to complete it. He likens their…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4adulterers: Hosea used this term earlier to describe spiritual betrayal (Hosea 3:1). Here, it refers to those who were unfaithful to the king.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. who ceaseth from raising--rather, "heating" it, from an Arabic root, "to be hot." So the Septuagint. Their adulterous and idolatrous lust is inflamed as the oven of a baker who has it at such a heat that he ceaseth from heating it only from the time that he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened; he only needs to omit feeding it during the short period of the fermentation of the bread. Compare 2Pe 2:14, "that cannot cease from sin" [Henderson].Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 7:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hosea 7
- 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
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries