New Living Translation
Hosea 4:6
6My 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.
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 King James Version (NKJV)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.
Context of Hosea 4:6
4“Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My complaint, you priests, is with you. 5So you will stumble in broad daylight, and your false prophets will fall with you in the night. And I will destroy Israel, your mother. 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. 7The more priests there are, the more they sin against me. They have exchanged the glory of God for the shame of idols. 8“When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin!
Read all of Hosea 4Hosea 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 4:12They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God.
- Isaiah 1:3Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its master’s care— but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognize my care for them.”
- Isaiah 3:12Childish leaders oppress my people, and women rule over them. O my people, your leaders mislead you; they send you down the wrong road.
- Isaiah 5:13So my people will go into exile far away because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve, and the common people will die of thirst.
- Jeremiah 4:22“My people are foolish and do not know me,” says the Lord. “They are stupid children who have no understanding. They are clever enough at doing wrong, but they have no idea how to do right!”
- Jeremiah 8:7Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not my people! They do not know the Lord’s laws.
- Hosea 4:1Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel! The Lord has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land.
- Hosea 6:6I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.
- 2 Chronicles 15:3For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Law to instruct them.
- Job 36:12But if they refuse to listen to him, they will cross over the river of death, dying from lack of understanding.
- Proverbs 19:2Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes.
- Isaiah 27:11The people are like the dead branches of a tree, broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots. Israel is a foolish and stupid nation, for its people have turned away from God. Therefore, the one who made them will show them no pity or mercy.
- Isaiah 45:20“Gather together and come, you fugitives from surrounding nations. What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save!
- Jeremiah 5:3Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.
- Matthew 15:14so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:3If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people 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
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
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries