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 prostitute, but not increase, Because they gave up devoting themselves to the Lord. 11Infidelity, 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 infidelity has led them astray, And they have been unfaithful, 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 prostitute, And your brides commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, Or your brides when they commit adultery, Because the men themselves slip away with the prostitutes 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 infidelityזְנוּנִיםzânûn · fornicationH2183
• has ledתָּעָהtâ‛âh · to go astrayH8582
• And they have beenזָנָהzânâh · 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 backs to Me, And not their faces; But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us!’
• Jeremiah 10:8But they are altogether stupid and foolish; The instruction from idols is nothing but 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!’ That is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet 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 infidelity 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 someone walking after wind and falsehood Had lied and said, ‘I will prophesy to you about wine and liquor,’ He would become a prophet to this people.
• 2 Thessalonians 2:9that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders,
• Hosea 9:1Do not rejoice, Israel, with jubilation like the nations! For you have been unfaithful, abandoning your God. You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on every threshing floor.
• Leviticus 17:7And they shall no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the prostitute. 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 prostitute with him, by playing the prostitute with Molech.
• Numbers 15:39It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so that you will do them and not follow your own heart and your own eyes, which led you to prostitute yourselves,
• 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 prostitute with the foreign gods of the land into the midst of which they are going, and they will abandon 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 be unfaithful as the house of Ahab was unfaithful, 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 leaves him And becomes another man’s wife, Will he return to her again? Would that land not be completely defiled? But you are a prostitute 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