KJV King James Version
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.
VERSE STUDY • KJV
Hosea 4:12
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.
Read it in 5 translations
BSB Berean Standard Bible
My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
WEB World English Bible
My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God.
ASV American Standard Version
My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God.
YLT Young’s Literal Translation
My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring from under their God.
Surrounding context — Hosea 4
9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
12 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.
13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof [is] good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people [that] doth not understand shall fall.
15 Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, [yet] let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.
Topics connected to this verse
Original-language word links
These Hebrew/Greek tokens are linked by Strong's number. Click one for its lexicon definition and other occurrences.
עַמִּי֙H5971 · ampeopleבְּעֵצ֣וֹH6086 · etstree: woodיִשְׁאָ֔לH7592 · sha.alto askוּמַקְל֖וֹH4731 · maq.qelrodיַגִּ֣ידH5046 · na.gadto tellל֑וֹH9033 · ohimכִּ֣יH3588 · kiforר֤וּחַH7307 · ru.achspiritזְנוּנִים֙H2183 · za.nunfornicationהִתְעָ֔הH8582 · ta.ahto go astrayוַיִּזְנ֖וּH2181 · za.nahto fornicateמִתַּ֥חַתH8478 · ta.chatunderneath: underאֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃H430 · e.lo.himGod
Cross-references
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 unto me, and not [their] face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.Hosea 5:4They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms [is] in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.Habakkuk 2:19Woe unto 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 in the midst of it.Isaiah 44:18-20They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; [and] their hearts, that they cannot understand.Deuteronomy 31:16And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go [to be] among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.Numbers 15:39And it shall be unto 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 a whoring:2 Thessalonians 2:9-11[Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,Leviticus 20:5Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.Psalm 73:27For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.Hosea 9:1Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as [other] people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.Micah 2:11If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, [saying], I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.Jeremiah 10:8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock [is] a doctrine of vanities.Leviticus 17:7And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.Ezekiel 16:1-63Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,Ezekiel 23:1-49The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,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.2 Chronicles 21:13But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, [which were] better than thyself:Jeremiah 3:1-3They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto 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.
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION
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