16 For Israel H3478 slideth back H5637 as a backsliding H5637 heifer: H6510 now the LORD H3068 will feed H7462 them as a lamb H3532 in a large place. H4800
And I will scatter H2219 you among the heathen, H1471 and will draw out H7324 a sword H2719 after H310 you: and your land H776 shall be desolate, H8077 and your cities H5892 waste. H2723
And it shall come to pass in that day, H3117 that a man H376 shall nourish H2421 a young H1241 cow, H5697 and two H8147 sheep; H6629 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance H7230 of milk H2461 that they shall give H6213 he shall eat H398 butter: H2529 for butter H2529 and honey H1706 shall every one eat H398 that is left H3498 in H7130 the land. H776 And it shall come to pass in that day, H3117 that every place H4725 shall be, where there were a thousand H505 vines H1612 at a thousand H505 silverlings, H3701 it shall even be for briers H8068 and thorns. H7898 With arrows H2671 and with bows H7198 shall men come H935 thither; because all the land H776 shall become briers H8068 and thorns. H7898 And on all hills H2022 that shall be digged H5737 with the mattock, H4576 there shall not come thither H935 the fear H3374 of briers H8068 and thorns: H7898 but it shall be for the sending forth H4916 of oxen, H7794 and for the treading H4823 of lesser cattle. H7716
He will surely H6801 violently turn H6801 and toss H6802 thee like a ball H1754 into a large H7342 H3027 country: H776 there shalt thou die, H4191 and there the chariots H4818 of thy glory H3519 shall be the shame H7036 of thy lord's H113 house. H1004
The LORD H3068 said H559 also unto me in the days H3117 of Josiah H2977 the king, H4428 Hast thou seen H7200 that which backsliding H4878 Israel H3478 hath done? H6213 she is gone up H1980 upon every high H1364 mountain H2022 and under H8478 every green H7488 tree, H6086 and there hath played the harlot. H2181
And I saw, H7200 when for all the causes H182 whereby backsliding H4878 Israel H3478 committed adultery H5003 I had put her away, H7971 and given H5414 her a bill H5612 of divorce; H3748 yet her treacherous H898 sister H269 Judah H3063 feared H3372 not, but went H3212 and played the harlot H2181 also.
And the LORD H3068 said H559 unto me, The backsliding H4878 Israel H3478 hath justified H6663 herself H5315 more than treacherous H898 Judah. H3063
Wherefore a lion H738 out of the forest H3293 shall slay H5221 them, and a wolf H2061 of the evenings H6160 shall spoil H7703 them, a leopard H5246 shall watch H8245 over their cities: H5892 every one that goeth out H3318 thence shall H2007 be torn in pieces: H2963 because their transgressions H6588 are many, H7231 and their backslidings H4878 are increased. H6105
But they hearkened H8085 not, nor inclined H5186 their ear, H241 but walked H3212 in the counsels H4156 and in the imagination H8307 of their evil H7451 heart, H3820 and went backward, H268 and not forward. H6440
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 4
Commentary on Hosea 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
Prophets were sent to be reprovers, to tell people of their faults, and to warn them of the judgments of God, to which by sin they exposed themselves; so the prophet is employed in this and the following chapters. He is here, as counsel for the King of kings, opening an indictment against the people of Israel, and labouring to convince them of sin, and of their misery and danger because of sin, that he might prevail with them to repent and reform.
Hsa 4:1-5
Here is,
Hsa 4:6-11
God is here proceeding in his controversy both with the priests and with the people. The people were as those that strove with the priests (v. 4) when they had priests that did their duty; but the generality of them lived in the neglect of their duty, and here is a word for those priests, and for the people that love to have it so, Jer. 5:31. And it is observable here how the punishment answers to the sin, and how, for the justifying of his own proceedings, God sets the one over-against the other.
Hsa 4:12-19
In these verses we have, as before,