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

10For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit harlotry, and shall not increase: because they have stopped taking heed to to the LORD. 11Harlotry and wine and new wine take away the heart. My people ask counsel at their idols, and their staff declareth to them: for the spirit of harlotry hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot departing from under their God. 13They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because their shadow is pleasant: therefore your daughters shall commit harlotry, and your spouses shall commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for they themselves are separated with harlots, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

Hosea 4:12 word by word

עַמִּי֙ בְּעֵצ֣וֹ יִשְׁאָ֔ל וּמַקְל֖וֹ יַגִּ֣יד ל֑וֹ כִּ֣י ר֤וּחַ זְנוּנִים֙ הִתְעָ֔ה וַיִּזְנ֖וּ מִתַּ֥חַת אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃Read the interlinear

• peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• askשָׁאַלshâ'al shâ'êl · to askH7592
• idolsעֵץ‛êts · tree: woodH6086
• staffמַקֵּלmaqqêl maqqelâh · rodH4731
• declarethנָגַדnâgad · to tellH5046
• spiritרוּחַrûach · spiritH7307
• harlotryזְנוּנִיםzânûn · fornicationH2183
• errתָּעָהtâ‛âh · to go astrayH8582
• harlotזָנָהzânâh · to fornicateH2181
• Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430

Cross-references for Hosea 4:12

• Jeremiah 2:27Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
• Jeremiah 10:8But they are altogether stupid and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
• Ezekiel 21:21For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.
• Habakkuk 2:19Woe to him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.
• Hosea 5:4They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of harlotry is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.
• Isaiah 44:18They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
• Micah 2:11If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood doth lie, saying, I will prophesy to thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
• 2 Thessalonians 2:9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
• Hosea 9:1Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast played the harlot from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every threshingfloor.
• Leviticus 17:7And they shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, with which they have committed idolatry. This shall be a statute for ever to them throughout their generations.
• Leviticus 20:5Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go astray after him, to commit harlotry with Molech, from among their people.
• Numbers 15:39And it shall be to you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray:
• Deuteronomy 31:16And the LORD said to Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and play the harlot with the gods of the strangers of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
• 2 Chronicles 21:13But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot, like the harlotries of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, who were better than thyself:
• Psalms 73:27For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go astray from thee.
• Jeremiah 3:1They say, If a man shall put away his wife, and she shall go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith 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