Tree of Life Version
Hosea 4:16
16For Israel is stubborn like a stubborn cow. Now Adonai will pasture them like a lamb in the open field.
Hosea 4:16 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
- New International Version (NIV)The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the Lord pasture them like lambs in a meadow?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“For Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the Lord will let them forage Like a lamb in open country.
Context of Hosea 4:16
14Will I not punish your daughters for prostitution or your daughters-in-law for adultery? For they consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with cult prostitutes. A people without understanding will be thrust down. 15Though you, Israel, are a prostitute, let Judah not become guilty. But do not come to Gilgal or go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear: ‘As Adonai lives!’ For Israel is stubborn like a stubborn cow. Now Adonai will pasture them like a lamb in the open field. 17Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone! 18Their liquor has come to an end. They surely have practiced prostitution. Her rulers have deeply loved disgrace.
Read all of Hosea 4Hosea 4:16 word by word
כִּ֚י כְּפָרָ֣ה סֹֽרֵרָ֔ה סָרַ֖ר יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל עַתָּה֙ יִרְעֵ֣ם יְהוָ֔ה כְּכֶ֖בֶשׂ בַּמֶּרְחָֽב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hosea 4:16
- Hosea 11:7So My people are bent on turning from Me. Although they are being called upwards, none will rise up.
- 1 Samuel 15:11“I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” So Samuel was troubled and cried out to Adonai all night long.
- Jeremiah 3:6Then Adonai said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel did? She went up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there she committed adultery.
- Jeremiah 5:6Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them. A desert wolf will ravage them. A leopard watches over their cities. Everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces, For their rebellion is great, their backslidings frequent.
- Jeremiah 7:24But they did not listen or pay attention. Instead they followed their own counsel, in the stubbornness of their evil heart. They have gone backward and not forward,
- Jeremiah 8:5Why then has this people—Jerusalem— turned away in perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
- Jeremiah 14:7Though our iniquities testify against us, Adonai, act for Your Name’s sake. For our backslidings are many. We have sinned against You.
- Zechariah 7:11“But they refused to pay attention. They stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears from hearing.
- Leviticus 26:33I will scatter you among the nations and I will draw out the sword after you. So your land will become a desolation and your cities will become a waste.
- Isaiah 7:21In that day it will be that a man will rear a calf and two sheep,
- Isaiah 22:18He will roll you up tightly and toss you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be the shame of your Master’s house.
Commentaries on Hosea 4:16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Israel slideth back - They are untractable, like an unbroken heifer or steer, that pulls back, rather than draw in the yoke. Will feed them as a lamb in a large place - A species of irony. Ye shall go to Assyria, and be scattered among the nations; ye may sport yourselves in the extensive empire, wither ye shall be carried captives.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16For Israel slideth back, as a backsliding heifer - The calves which Israel worshiped were pictures of itself. They represented natural, untamed, strength, which, when put to service, started back and shrank from the yoke. “Untractable, petulant, unruly, wanton, it withdrew from the yoke, when it could; if it could not, it drew aside or backward, instead of forward.” So is it rare, exceeding rare, for man to walk straight on in God‘s ways; he jerks…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
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. backsliding--Translate, "Israel is refractory, as a refractory heifer," namely, one that throws the yoke off her neck. Israel had represented God under the form of "calves" (1Ki 12:28); but it is she herself who is one. lamb in a large place--not in a good sense, as in Is 30:23. Here there is irony: lambs like a large pasture; but it is not so safe for them as a small one, duly fenced from wild beasts. God will "feed" them, but it shall be with the…Read the comment
Topics related to Hosea 4:16
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
Tree of Life Version — © 2015 The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
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