New International Version
Hosea 4:8
8They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.
Hosea 4:8 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
- English Standard Version (ESV)They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.
- New King James Version (NKJV)They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin!
Context of Hosea 4:8
6my 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. 7The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful. They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness. 9And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. 10“They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not flourish, because they have deserted the Lord to give themselves
Read all of Hosea 4Hosea 4:8 word by word
חַטַּ֥את עַמִּ֖י יֹאכֵ֑לוּ וְאֶל־עֲוֹנָ֖ם יִשְׂא֥וּ נַפְשֽׁוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 4:8
- Leviticus 6:26The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in the sanctuary area, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.
- Leviticus 7:6Any male in a priest’s family may eat it, but it must be eaten in the sanctuary area; it is most holy.
- 1 Samuel 2:29Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’
- Psalms 24:4The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.
- Psalms 25:1In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.
- Isaiah 56:11They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain.
- Ezekiel 14:3“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?
- Micah 3:11Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.”
- Malachi 1:10“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
- Romans 16:18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
- 2 Peter 2:3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
Commentaries on Hosea 4:8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8They eat up the sin of my people - חטאת chattath, the sin-offering, though it be offered contrary to the law; for their hearts are set on iniquity, they wish to do whatever is contrary to God.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8They eat up the sin of My people - The priests made a gain of the sins of the people, lived upon them and by them, conniving at or upholding the idolatries of the people, partaking in their idol-sacrifices and idolatrous rites, which, as involving the desertion of God, were “the sin of the people,” and the root of all their other sins. This the priests did knowingly. True or false, apostate or irregularly appointed, they knew that there was no truth in…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
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 88. eat ... sin of my people--that is, the sin offerings (Le 6:26; 10:17). The priests greedily devoured them. set their heart on their iniquity--literally, "lift up the animal soul to lust after," or strongly desire. Compare De 24:15, Margin; Psa 24:4; Jr 22:27. The priests set their own hearts on the iniquity of the people, instead of trying to suppress it. For the more the people sinned, the more sacrificial victims in atonement for sin the priests…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 4:8
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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