Table of Contents
Hosea 4
Hosea 4
1 Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
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.
16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
18 Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
19 The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
Notes
Cross Reference
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 2
<html><b>swearing and lying</b> They swear falsely. <b>they break all bounds</b> Jonathan paraphrases: They bear children from their friends’ wives. <b>blood touches blood</b> They multiply transgression upon transgression (Targum Jonathan). Now according to its more apparent meaning: they broke down all bounds and increased bloodshed until the blood of one murdered person touches the blood of another.</html>
Verse 3
<html><b>shall…mourn</b> the land shall be destroyed and the mourning therein shall grow. <b>shall be diminished</b> Heb. יֵאָסְפוּ. Jonathan renders: diminished because of their sins. It is an expression of destruction, similar to, “I will utterly consume them (אָסֹף אֲסִיפֵם)” (Jeremiah 8:13).</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>let no man strive</b> You forewarn the true prophets not to strive with you nor to reprove you, as it is written concerning Amos (7:16), that Amaziah the priest of Bethel said to him (i.e. to Amos): “Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.” This transpired in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash in whose time Hosea prophesied. <b>them who strive with the priest</b> They strive with their instructors, for the priests were the instructors, as it is written [concerning the priestly tribe of Levi]: “They shall teach Your judgments to Jacob, etc.” (Deut. 33:10).</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>stumble</b> You shall stumble in the daytime and the false prophets with you shall also stumble as if it were night, and I will (thereby) put to shame your assembly. [from Targum Jonathan] <b>the prophet that is with you</b> To be understood as the plural: The prophets that are with you. <b>silence</b> Heb. וְדָמִתִי similar to: “my people were silenced (Heb. נִדְמוּ עַמִי of v. 6)” just as a man who sits bewildered and cannot respond.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>forget your children</b> For those who stood on Mt. Sinai offered their children as surety for their parents to keep the Torah. [based on Tanhuma, vayigash 2, Mid. Psalms 8:4]</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>the more they have sinned against me</b> As they multiplied and increased, so they continued to sin. (Heb. כֵן חָטְאוּ.) So is the Hebrew expression in numerous places: “As they afflicted them, so they increased (Heb. כֲּאֲשֶׁר יְעַנוּ אוֹתוֹ כֵן יִרְבֶּה);” “As they called them so they turned away from them, (Heb. קָרְאוּ לָהֶם כֵּן הָלְכוּ מִפְּנֵיהֶם Hosea 11:2),” the more the prophets called after them to rebuke them, so they ran away from them. <b>the more they have increased the more they have sinned</b> Therefore “I will exchange their glory for shame.”</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>the sin-offerings of My people</b> Heb. חַטַּאת־עַמִּי. Every (mention of) חַטַּאת in the books of the Twelve Prophets appear with (the diacritical voweling of) ‘patachin’ (under the letter ט) as follows: חַטַּאת, since all are connected (to the following word) with the exception of one: “she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion. (Heb. חַטָּאת הִיא לְבַת־צִיּוֹן Michah 1:3).” The sin-offerings of my nation shall be eaten by the false prophets concerning whom had been stated above: “and the prophet that is with you shall also stumble with you (v. 5).” They became for them priests of the high places who would eat what the legitimate priests should rightfully have eaten. <b>set their heart on their iniquity</b> On the iniquity of the people of Israel, the prophet sets his heart; for the prophet himself hopes that they shall bring him money and sacrifices to expiate their sins.</html>
Verse 9
<html><b>like people, like priest</b> I will equate the nation to the disgrace of the priests whom I desecrated from administering to them. So will I desecrate them among the nations. So had Jonathan translated.</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>shall not increase</b> Shall not raise children.</html>
Verse 11
<html><b>take away the heart</b> The harlotry and [old] wine and new wine with which they are involved have captured their hearts away from me.</html>
Verse 12
<html><b>takes counsel of his piece of wood</b> Of the idol which he has made of wood. <b>declares to him</b> To his words (the rod’s) he hearkens: that which the prophets of Baal declare to him in the name of the idols.</html>
Verse 13
<html><b>oaks</b> kיsna (chיna) in old French, upon which grows a fruit called ‘glant’ in old French (acorns). <b>styraxes</b> Heb. לִבְנֶה, a tree whose bark is white (Heb. לָבָן). <b>elms</b> ‘olma’ in old French, whose branches are many and are planted for shade. <b>therefore</b> Because you participate in idolatry, and the gentile nations join you, you therefore intermarry with them; [hence] your daughters born to you from their daughters act in the manner of their mothers and commit adultery. So does Jonathan interpret.</html>
Verse 14
<html><b>I will not punish your daughters</b> anymore, to test them with the ‘bitter waters’ should they commit adultery. Why? Because their husbands join with harlots; for once the man is not free of sin, the waters do not test his wife. [based on Sifrei Num. 5:82 and Sotah 47a] <b>join</b> Heb. יִפָרֵדוּ. Jonathan translates מִסְתַייעָן from סִיעָה, ‘a company,’ that is, they join with them (the harlots) in drinking wine. Now Menahem [Machbereth Menahem p. 145] connects it with עָבְשוּ פְרוּדוֹת “the wine barrels decay” (of Joel 1:17) where they (פְרוּדוֹת) are wine barrels. <b>the people that does not understand shall be knocked about</b> Because you do not set your heart to comprehend, therefore you shall be knocked about, struck with (divine) visitation: יִלָּבֵט is an expression of road weariness and toilsome burden, ‘dיlaser’ in old French.</html>
Verse 15
<html><b>Though you, O Israel, play the harlot</b> the sons of Judah ought not learn their (sic) way. An alternate explanation is: Though you, O Israel, play the harlot, let not Judah become guilty. Though Israel is as a harlot, the sons of Judah are not guilty thereof, and I shall [therefore] not hold them accountable, as it is written above (1:17): “But I will have compassion upon the house of Judah.” <b>and do not come</b> you sons of Judah to Gilgal. (Judah shall be blameless) provided the sons of Judah do not come to Gilgal where the ten tribes worship [idols], as it is stated: “All their wickedness is in Gilgal” (Hosea 9:15); “[Come] to Gilgal and multiply transgression” (Amos 4:4). <b>nor go up to Beth- aven</b> This is Bethel (which is called by the pejorative, Beth-aven, house of iniquity), for Jeroboam set up the calves there. <b>nor swear</b> with them (the Israelite kingdom) “as the Lord lives,” “for if they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ they, nevertheless, swear falsely” (Jer. 5:2). When they swore falsely, they would mention the name of Heaven, but when they swore truthfully, they would swear in the name of the Baalim.</html>
Verse 16
<html><b>like a rebellious cow</b> Like a fattened ox which kicks, so has Israel strayed due to an abundance of food and drink. <b>now shall the Lord feed them</b> a limited feeding, as a lamb who feeds in a wide [sparsely vegetated] area, rather than as a fattened ox which is stuffed with barley and vetch.</html>
Verse 17
<html><b>Ephraim is joined to idols</b> [he] is joined to idols and cannot divest himself of them. Hence you, the prophet, ‘let him alone,’ and do not prophesy for the purpose of rebuking him since it will not avail.</html>
Verse 18
<html><b>Their drinking bouts have become strange</b> Their drinking bouts have become estranged from Me. סָר is an expression of ‘foreign.’ Comp. (Jer. 2:21) “a degenerate wild vine (סוּרֵי הַגֶּפֶן נָכְרִיָּה),” i.e., removed from its place and changed to another. סָבְאָם Their wine feast that was with the harlots. <b>love to invite disgrace</b> Heb. הֵבוּ. They invited disgrace for themselves. הֵבוּ is an expression of preparation. Comp. (Gen. 11:4) “Get ready (הָבָה) and let us build,” “Get ready (הָבָה) and let us descend,” (Ex. 10: 1) “Get ready (הָבָה) and let us deal wisely.” <b>her rulers</b> Heb. מָגִנֶּיהָ, her shields, her princes and her kings.</html>
Verse 19
<html><b>The wind has bound her up in its wings</b> The wind has attached itself to its wings, like a bird, which the wind does not permit to alight until it bears it off into the distance. So will the enemies come upon them and drive them into exile. <b>and they shall be ashamed of their altars</b> Heb. מִזְבְּחוֹתָם, of the altars of their deities (lit. their abominations), to which they do not turn. Now, just as חֵטְא, sin, can be stated in the feminine as חֲטָאָה, so can one say, instead of זֶבח, זִבְחָה, which denotes the places where they would sacrifice. And so did Jonathan render: of the altars of their abominations. Addendum according to Abarbanel: I found a Midrash Tanhuma, where it is an expression of tying, like a man who threatens a person who provokes him, “[I swear] by your life that I will tie it to you at your end.” So does this verse threaten Israel: “My zeal and My fury are tied up to avenge Myself at the end, and they will be ashamed of their deeds.”</html>