Hosea 4:12

Hosea 4:12 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
• New International Version (NIV)My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.
• English Standard Version (ESV)My 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.
• New King James Version (NKJV)My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have played the harlot against their God.

Context of Hosea 4:12

10They will eat, but not have enough; They will play the harlot, but not increase, Because they have stopped giving heed to the Lord. 11Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding. My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God. 13They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains And burn incense on the hills, Under oak, poplar and terebinth, Because their shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters play the harlot And your brides commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot Or your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves go apart with harlots And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; So the people without understanding are ruined.

Hosea 4:12 word by word

עַמִּי֙ בְּעֵצ֣וֹ יִשְׁאָ֔ל וּמַקְל֖וֹ יַגִּ֣יד ל֑וֹ כִּ֣י ר֤וּחַ זְנוּנִים֙ הִתְעָ֔ה וַיִּזְנ֖וּ מִתַּ֥חַת אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃Read the interlinear

• My peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• consultשָׁאַלshâ'al shâ'êl · to askH7592
• their woodenעֵץ‛êts · tree: woodH6086
• wandמַקֵּלmaqqêl maqqelâh · rodH4731
• informsנָגַדnâgad · to tellH5046
• For a spiritרוּחַrûach · spiritH7307
• of harlotryזְנוּנִיםzânûn · fornicationH2183
• has ledתָּעָהtâ‛âh · to go astrayH8582
• And they have playedזָנָהzânâh · to fornicateH2181
• from their Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430

Cross-references for Hosea 4:12

• Jeremiah 2:27Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their back to Me, And not their face; But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’
• Jeremiah 10:8But they are altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion--their idol is wood!
• Ezekiel 21:21For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver.
• Habakkuk 2:19Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no breath at all inside it.
• Hosea 5:4Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know the Lord.
• Isaiah 44:18They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.
• Micah 2:11If a man walking after wind and falsehood Had told lies and said, ‘I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor,’ He would be spokesman to this people.
• 2 Thessalonians 2:9that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
• Hosea 9:1Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations! For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved harlots’ earnings on every threshing floor.
• Leviticus 17:7They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations.”’
• Leviticus 20:5then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.
• Numbers 15:39It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,
• Deuteronomy 31:16The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.
• 2 Chronicles 21:13but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot as the house of Ahab played the harlot, and you have also killed your brothers, your own family, who were better than you,
• Psalms 73:27For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
• Jeremiah 3:1God says, “If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man, Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted? But you are a harlot with many lovers; Yet you turn to Me,” declares the Lord.

Commentaries on Hosea 4:12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12At their stocks - They consult their wooden gods. And their staff declareth - They use divination by rods; see the note on Ezekiel 21 (note), where this sort of divination (rabdomancy) is explained.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12My people ask counsel at - (literally, “on”) their stocks They ask habitually; and that, in dependence “on their stocks.” The word “wood” is used of the idol made of it, to bring before them the senselessness of their doings, in that they asked counsel of the senseless wood. Thus Jeremiah reproaches them for “saying to a stock, my father” Jeremiah 2:27; and Habakkuk, “Woe unto him that saith to the wood, awake” Habakkuk 2:19. And their staff declareth…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
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12My people consult their wooden idols: For thousands of years, people have worshiped natural objects like wood and stones, thinking they held spirits and gods (Jeremiah 2:27). Biblical religion completely rejects these practices and beliefs (Exodus 20:4–5; Isaiah 44:19).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. Instances of their understanding ("heart") being "taken away." stocks--wooden idols (Jr 2:27; Ha 2:19). staff--alluding to divination by rods (see on Eze 21:21, 22). The diviner, says Rosenmuller, threw a rod from him, which was stripped of its bark on one side, not on the other: if the bare side turned uppermost, it was a good omen; if the side with the bark, it was a bad omen. The Arabs used two rods, the one marked God bids, the other, God forbids…Read the comment

Topics related to Hosea 4:12

• Idolatry
• Minister, Christian
• Sorcery

In the dictionaries

• God
• Jeroboam
• Languish
• Reject
• Asherah
• Augury
• Crime; Crimes
• Divination
• Hosea
• Spirit

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