New Living Translation
Hosea 4:8
8“When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin!
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.
- New International Version (NIV)They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.
- 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.
Context of Hosea 4:8
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. 7The more priests there are, the more they sin against me. They have exchanged the glory of God for the shame of idols. “When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin! 9‘And what the priests do, the people also do.’ So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds. 10They will eat and still be hungry. They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it, for they have deserted the Lord
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 the sacrifice as a sin offering must eat his portion in a sacred place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.
- Leviticus 7:6Any male from a priest’s family may eat the meat. It must be eaten in a sacred place, for it is most holy.
- 1 Samuel 2:29So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me—for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of my people Israel!
- Psalms 24:4Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies.
- Psalms 25:1O Lord, I give my life to you.
- Isaiah 56:11Like greedy dogs, they are never satisfied. They are ignorant shepherds, all following their own path and intent on personal gain.
- Ezekiel 14:3“Son of man, these leaders have set up idols in their hearts. They have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests?
- Micah 3:11You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the Lord is here among us.”
- Malachi 1:10“How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings.
- Romans 16:18Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.
- 2 Peter 2:3In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.
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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