Hosea 3:4

Hosea 3:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
• New International Version (NIV)For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.

Context of Hosea 3:4

2So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3Then I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you.” For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. 5Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.

Hosea 3:4 word by word

כִּ֣י׀ יָמִ֣ים רַבִּ֗ים יֵֽשְׁבוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֵ֥ין מֶ֙לֶךְ֙ וְאֵ֣ין שָׂ֔ר וְאֵ֥ין זֶ֖בַח וְאֵ֣ין מַצֵּבָ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין אֵפ֖וֹד וּתְרָפִֽים׃Read the interlinear

• For the sonsבֵּןbên · son: descendant/peopleH1121
• of Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
• will remainיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
• for manyרַבrab · manyH7227
• daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• withoutאַ֫יִן'ayin · nothingH369
• kingמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
• or princeשַׂרώar · rulerH8269
• sacrificeזֶ֫בַחzebach · sacrificeH2077
• pillarמַצֵּבָהmatstsêbâh · pillarH4676
• ephodאֵפוֹד'êphôd 'êphôd · ephodH646
• householdתְּרָפִיםterâphîym · teraphimH8655

Cross-references for Hosea 3:4

• Hosea 10:3Surely now they will say, “We have no king, For we do not revere the Lord. As for the king, what can he do for us?”
• Genesis 49:10The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
• Jeremiah 15:4I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
• John 19:15So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
• 2 Chronicles 15:2and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
• Daniel 8:11It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down.
• Daniel 9:27And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
• Daniel 12:11From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
• Matthew 24:1Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.
• Luke 21:24and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
• Acts 6:13They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law;
• Hebrews 10:26For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
• Isaiah 19:19In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord near its border.
• Exodus 28:4These are the garments which they shall make: a breastpiece and an ephod and a robe and a tunic of checkered work, a turban and a sash, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister as priest to Me.
• Leviticus 8:7He put the tunic on him and girded him with the sash, and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him; and he girded him with the artistic band of the ephod, with which he tied it to him.
• Judges 8:27Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Commentaries on Hosea 3:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Many days without a king - Hitherto this prophecy has been literally fulfilled. Since the destruction of the temple by the Romans they have neither had king nor prince, nor any civil government of their own, but have lived in different nations of the earth as mere exiles. They have neither priests nor sacrifices nor urim nor thummim; no prophet, no oracle, no communication of any kind from God. Without an image ephod - teraphim - The Septuagint read…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4For the children of Israel shall abide many days - The condition described is one in which there should be no civil polity, none of the special temple-service, nor yet the idolatry, which they had hitherto combined with it or substituted for it. “King and prince” include both higher and lower governors. Judah had “kings” before the captivity, and a sort of “prince” in her governors after it. Judah remained still a polity, although without the glory of her…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-5Verses 4-5 Here is the application of the parable to Israel. They must long sit like a widow, stripped of all joys and honours; but shall at length be received again. Those that would seek the Lord so as to find him, must apply to Christ, and become his willing people. Not only are we to fear the Lord and his greatness, but the Lord and his goodness; not only his majesty, but his mercy. Even Jewish writers apply this passage to the promised Messiah…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-4Just as Hosea’s wife had to live many days without sexual relations, Israel would be without its key institutions, practices, and objects. These included the king or prince, sacrifices, and sacred pillars or idols, which were central to its life and worship.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. The long period here foretold was to be one in which Israel should have no civil polity, king, or prince, no sacrifice to Jehovah, and yet no idol, or false god, no ephod, or teraphim. Exactly describing their state for the last nineteen centuries, separate from idols, yet without any legal sacrifice to Jehovah, whom they profess to worship, and without being acknowledged by Him as His Church. So Kimchi, a Jew, explains it. The ephod was worn by the…Read the comment

Topics related to Hosea 3:4

• Ephod
• Symbols and Similitudes

In the dictionaries

• Israel
• Israel, Israelites
• Jacob, Israel
• Children of Israel
• Jew
• Teraphim
• Thummim
• Ephod (1)
• God
• Gomer (2)

Commentaries on Hosea 3

• 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