Hosea 4 is the fourth chapter of the
Book of Hosea
The Book of Hosea ( hbo, , Sēfer Hōšēaʿ) is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Tanakh, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. According to the traditional order of most Heb ...
in the
Hebrew Bible or the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
of the
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
Bible.
[Halley, Henry H. ''Halley's Bible Handbook'': an abbreviated Bible commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1963.][Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.] This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet
Hosea son of
Beeri. In this chapter he reproves the people and priests for their sins in the interregnum following Jeroboam's death; hence there is no mention of the king or his family; and in Hosea 4:2 bloodshed and other evils usual in a civil war are specified.
[ It is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.
]
Text
The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 19 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis
The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Hebrew Bible's Nevi'im (Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated He ...
(895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex
The Aleppo Codex ( he, כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא, romanized: , lit. 'Crown of Aleppo') is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the ...
(10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q78 (4QXIIc; 75–50 BCE) with extant verses 1–19;[Dead sea scrolls - Hosea]
/ref> and 4Q82 (4QXIIg; 25 BCE) with extant verses 1, 9–11, 13–14.[
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; Q; 6th century).
]
Verse 6
:''My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:''
:''Because you have rejected knowledge,''
::''I also will reject you from being priest for Me''
:''Because you have forgotten the law of your God,''
::''I also will forget your children.''[ NKJV]
* "Are destroyed": from the Hebrew plural verb , ''nidmu'', following a singular subject, collectively include the whole nation of Israel.[ Jerome rendered the verb in the sense of "silence" (Latin: "conticuit populus incus", that is, "sinking into eternal silence"; as supported by the Chaldee version).][ The Greek Septuagint interpret it in the sense of "likeness": "My people are like () as if they had no knowledge."][Joseph S. Exell; Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones (Editors). The ]Pulpit Commentary
The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible created during the nineteenth century under the direction of Rev. Joseph S. Exell and Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones. It consists of 23 volumes with 22,000 pages and 95,000 entrie ...
. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Isaiah 5:13 uses the same expression, "therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge".[ Barnes, Albert. Notes on the Old Testament. London, Blackie & Son, 1884. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.]
* "Lack of knowledge": "of God" (Hosea 4:1), that is, "lack of piety".[Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset; David Brown. '' Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary On the Whole Bible''. 1871.]
* "You have rejected knowledge": may refer to the priests appointed by Jeroboam not from among the Levites, but 'of the lowest of the people, ignorant and illiterate men' (1 Kings 12
1 Kings 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by ...
:31) who reject with contempt the knowledge of God and of divine things.John Gill John Gill may refer to:
Sports
*John Gill (cricketer) (1854–1888), New Zealand cricketer
*John Gill (coach) (1898–1997), American football coach
*John Gill (footballer, born 1903), English professional footballer
*John Gill (American football) ...
. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Published in 1746-1763.
See also
*Related Bible parts: Isaiah 5, Hosea 3
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Jewish
Hosea 4 Hebrew with Parallel English
Hosea 4 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary
Christian
Hosea 4 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
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