Hosea 4:6

Hosea 4:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
• New International Version (NIV)my 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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
• New Living Translation (NLT)My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.

Context of Hosea 4:6

4“Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are like those who contend with the priest. 5Therefore you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; And I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. 7“The more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. 8They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity.

Hosea 4:6 word by word

נִדְמ֥וּ עַמִּ֖י מִבְּלִ֣י הַדָּ֑עַת כִּֽי־אַתָּ֞ה הַדַּ֣עַת מָאַ֗סְתָּ וְאֶמְאָֽסְאךָ֙ מִכַּהֵ֣ן לִ֔י וַתִּשְׁכַּח֙ תּוֹרַ֣ת אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אֶשְׁכַּ֥ח בָּנֶ֖יךָ גַּם־אָֽנִי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• My peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• are destroyedדָּמָהdâmâh · to ceaseH1820
• for lack of knowledgeדַּ֫עַתda‛ath · knowledgeH1847
• because thou hast rejectedמָאַסmâ'as · to rejectH3988
• thee, that thou shalt be no priestכָּהַןkâhan · to ministerH3547
• to me: seeing thou hast forgottenשָׁכַחshâkach shâkêach · to forgetH7911
• the lawתּוֹרָהtôrâh tôrâh · instructionH8451
• of thy Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• thy childrenבֵּןbên · son: childH1121

Cross-references for Hosea 4:6

• Hosea 4:12My 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.
• Isaiah 1:3The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.”
• Isaiah 3:12As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths.”
• Isaiah 5:13Therefore my people have gone into captivity, Because they have no knowledge; Their honorable men are famished, And their multitude dried up with thirst.
• Jeremiah 4:22“For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge.”
• Jeremiah 8:7“Even the stork in the heavens Knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow Observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.
• Hosea 4:1Hear the word of the Lord, You children of Israel, For the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.
• Hosea 6:6For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
• 2 Chronicles 15:3For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;
• Job 36:12But if they do not obey, They shall perish by the sword, And they shall die without knowledge.
• Proverbs 19:2Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge, And he sins who hastens with his feet.
• Isaiah 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off; The women come and set them on fire. For it is a people of no understanding; Therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, And He who formed them will show them no favor.
• Isaiah 45:20“Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together, You who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, Who carry the wood of their carved image, And pray to a god that cannot save.
• Jeremiah 5:3O Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, But they have not grieved; You have consumed them, But they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return.
• Matthew 15:14Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:3But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

Commentaries on Hosea 4:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - They have not the knowledge of God, nor of sacred things, nor of their own interest, nor of the danger to which they are exposed. They walk on blindly, and perish. Because thou hast rejected knowledge - So they might have become wise, had they not rejected the means of improvement. Thou shalt be no priest to me - If this be the true reading, there must be reference to some particular priest, well known, to…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - “My people are,” not, “is.” This accurately represents the Hebrew. The word “people” speaks of them as a whole; are, relates to the individuals of whom that whole is composed. Together, the words express the utter destruction of the whole, one and all. They are destroyed “for lack of knowledge,” literally, “of the knowledge,” i. e., the only knowledge, which in the creature is real knowledge, that knowledge…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
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6Since the priests refused to know the Lord, the people also did not know their God. As a result, the people were being destroyed. A main role of the priests of Israel was to know, practice, and teach the laws of God. Ironically, these guardians of the law had forgotten it.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. lack of knowledge--"of God" (Ho 4:1), that is, lack of piety. Their ignorance was wilful, as the epithet, "My people," implies; they ought to have known, having the opportunity, as the people of God. thou--O priest, so-called. Not regularly constituted, but still bearing the name, while confounding the worship of Jehovah and of the calves in Beth-el (1Ki 12:29, 31). I will ... forget thy children--Not only those who then were alive should be deprived…Read the comment

Topics related to Hosea 4:6

• Backsliders
• Blindness
• Forgetting God
• Ignorance
• Knowledge
• Minister, Christian
• Sin

In the dictionaries

• God
• Languish
• Reject
• Hosea
• Moses
• Pentateuch
• Priests and Levites
• Text of the Old Testament
• Zechariah, Book of
• multiply, multiplied, multiplication

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