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A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God. <a href="/nlt/hosea/4.htm">New Living Translation</a> They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God. <a href="/esv/hosea/4.htm">English Standard Version</a> My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore. <a href="/bsb/hosea/4.htm">Berean Standard Bible</a> 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. <a href="/kjv/hosea/4.htm">King James Bible</a> 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. <a href="/nkjv/hosea/4.htm">New King James Version</a> My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have played the harlot against their God. <a href="/nasb_/hosea/4.htm">New American Standard Bible</a> My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of infidelity has led them astray, And they have been unfaithful, departing from their God. <a href="/nasb/hosea/4.htm">NASB 1995</a> My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner&#8217s wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God. <a href="/nasb77/hosea/4.htm">NASB 1977 </a> My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God. <a href="/lsb/hosea/4.htm">Legacy Standard Bible </a> My people ask their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand declares to them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God. <a href="/amp/hosea/4.htm">Amplified Bible</a> My people consult their [lifeless] wooden idol, and their [diviner’s] wand gives them oracles. For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray [morally and spiritually], And they have played the prostitute, withdrawing themselves from their God. <a href="/csb/hosea/4.htm">Christian Standard Bible</a> My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of promiscuity leads them astray; they act promiscuously in disobedience to their God. <a href="/hcsb/hosea/4.htm">Holman Christian Standard Bible</a> My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of promiscuity leads them astray; they act promiscuously in disobedience to their God. <a href="/asv/hosea/4.htm">American Standard Version</a> 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. <a href="/cev/hosea/4.htm">Contemporary English Version</a> You expect wooden idols and other objects of wood to give you advice. Lusting for sex at pagan shrines has made you unfaithful to me, your God. <a href="/erv/hosea/4.htm">English Revised Version</a> 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 gone a whoring from under their God. <a href="/gwt/hosea/4.htm">GOD'S WORD® Translation</a> My people ask their wooden idols for help. A piece of wood tells them what to do. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray. They commit adultery by giving themselves to other gods. <a href="/gnt/hosea/4.htm">Good News Translation</a> They ask for revelations from a piece of wood! A stick tells them what they want to know! They have left me. Like a woman who becomes a prostitute, they have given themselves to other gods. <a href="/isv/hosea/4.htm">International Standard Version</a> My people seek counsel from their piece of wood, and their diviner's rod speaks to them. For a spirit of prostitution causes them to go astray; in their immorality they desert their God. <a href="/msb/hosea/4.htm">Majority Standard Bible</a> 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. <a href="/net/hosea/4.htm">NET Bible</a> They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner's staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery against their God. <a href="/nheb/hosea/4.htm">New Heart English Bible</a> 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. <a href="/wbt/hosea/4.htm">Webster's Bible Translation</a> My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth to them: for the spirit of lewdness hath caused them to err, and they have gone astray from under their God. <a href="/web/hosea/4.htm">World English Bible</a> 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. <div class="vheading2">Literal Translations</div><a href="/lsv/hosea/4.htm">Literal Standard Version</a> My people at its staff asks and its rod declares to it, "" For a spirit of whoredoms has caused to err, "" And they go whoring from under their God. <a href="/ylt/hosea/4.htm">Young's Literal Translation</a> 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. <a href="/slt/hosea/4.htm">Smith's Literal Translation</a> My people will ask in their counsel, and with their rod they will announce to them: for the spirit of fornications caused to err, and they will commit fornication from under their God.<div class="vheading2">Catholic Translations</div><a href="/drb/hosea/4.htm">Douay-Rheims Bible</a> My people have consulted their stocks, and their staff hath declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God. <a href="/cpdv/hosea/4.htm">Catholic Public Domain Version</a> My people have inquired of their stave, and their staff has announced to them. For the spirit of fornication has deceived them, and they have been fornicating before their God. <a href="/nabre/hosea/4.htm">New American Bible</a> My people consult their piece of wood, and their wand makes pronouncements for them, For the spirit of prostitution has led them astray; they prostitute themselves, forsaking their God. <a href="/nrsvce/hosea/4.htm">New Revised Standard Version</a> My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have played the whore, forsaking their God.<div class="vheading2">Translations from Aramaic</div><a href="/lamsa/hosea/4.htm">Lamsa Bible</a> My people ask counsel of their own imagination, and their staff declares to them the directions; for the spirit of whoredom has caused them to go astray, so they have turned from their God. <a href="/hpbt/hosea/4.htm">Peshitta Holy Bible Translated</a> My people inquires of its mind and its rod shows him, because the spirit of fornication has seduced them and they have turned from their God<div class="vheading2">OT Translations</div><a href="/jps/hosea/4.htm">JPS Tanakh 1917</a> My people ask counsel at their stock, And their staff declareth unto them; For the spirit of harlotry hath caused them to err, And they have gone astray from under their God. <a href="/sep/hosea/4.htm">Brenton Septuagint Translation</a> They asked counsel by means of signs, and they reported answer to them by their staves: they have gone astray in a spirit of whoredom, and gone grievously a-whoring from their God. <a href="/parallel/hosea/4-12.htm">Additional Translations ...</a></div></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><a name="audio" id="audio"></a><div class="vheadingv">Audio Bible</div><iframe width="100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xpPG1oLnpGk?start=575" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="vheadingv">Context</div><a href="/bsb/hosea/4.htm">God's Charges Against Israel</a> …11Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding. 12<a href="/hebrew/5971.htm" title="5971: ‘am·mî (N-msc:: 1cs) -- From amam; a people; specifically, a tribe; hence troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock.">My people</a> <a href="/hebrew/7592.htm" title="7592: yiš·’āl (V-Qal-Imperf-3ms) -- To ask, inquire. Or shael; a primitive root; to inquire; by implication, to request; by extension, to demand.">consult</a> <a href="/hebrew/6086.htm" title="6086: bə·‘ê·ṣōw (Prep-b:: N-msc:: 3ms) -- Tree, trees, wood. From atsah; a tree; hence, wood.">their wooden idols,</a> <a href="/hebrew/4731.htm" title="4731: ū·maq·lōw (Conj-w:: N-msc:: 3ms) -- A rod, staff. Or maqqlah; from an unused root meaning apparently to germinate; a shoot, i.e. Stick.">and their divining rods</a> <a href="/hebrew/5046.htm" title="5046: yag·gîḏ (V-Hifil-Imperf-3ms) -- To be conspicuous. ">inform</a> <a href="/hebrew/lōw (Prep:: 3ms) -- ">them.</a> <a href="/hebrew/3588.htm" title="3588: kî (Conj) -- That, for, when. ">For</a> <a href="/hebrew/7307.htm" title="7307: rū·aḥ (N-csc) -- Breath, wind, spirit. From ruwach; wind; by resemblance breath.">a spirit</a> <a href="/hebrew/2183.htm" title="2183: zə·nū·nîm (N-mp) -- Fornication. From zanah; adultery; figuratively, idolatry.">of prostitution</a> <a href="/hebrew/8582.htm" title="8582: hiṯ·‘āh (V-Hifil-Perf-3ms) -- To err. A primitive root; to vacillate, i.e. Reel or stray; also causative of both.">leads them astray</a> <a href="/hebrew/2181.htm" title="2181: way·yiz·nū (Conj-w:: V-Qal-ConsecImperf-3mp) -- To commit fornication, be a harlot. A primitive root; to commit adultery; figuratively, to commit idolatry.">and they have played the harlot</a> <a href="/hebrew/8478.htm" title="8478: mit·ta·ḥaṯ (Prep-m) -- Underneath, below, instead of. From the same as Towach; the bottom; only adverbially, below, in lieu of, etc.">against</a> <a href="/hebrew/430.htm" title="430: ’ĕ·lō·hê·hem (N-mpc:: 3mp) -- Plural of 'elowahh; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used of the supreme God">their God.</a> 13They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.…<div class="cred"><a href="//berean.bible">Berean Standard Bible</a> · <a href="//berean.bible/downloads.htm">Download</a></div> <a name="crossref" id="crossref"></a><div class="vheading">Cross References</div><div id="crf"><a href="/jeremiah/2-27.htm">Jeremiah 2:27</a> say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’ <a href="/isaiah/44-19.htm">Isaiah 44:19-20</a> And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?” / He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?” <a href="/ezekiel/20-32.htm">Ezekiel 20:32</a> When you say, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the peoples of the lands, serving wood and stone,’ what you have in mind will never come to pass. <a href="/deuteronomy/32-21.htm">Deuteronomy 32:21</a> They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding. <a href="/2_kings/17-16.htm">2 Kings 17:16-17</a> They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal. / They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. <a href="/isaiah/57-5.htm">Isaiah 57:5-6</a> who burn with lust among the oaks, under every luxuriant tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? / Your portion is among the smooth stones of the valley; indeed, they are your lot. Even to them you have poured out a drink offering and offered a grain offering. Should I relent because of these? <a href="/jeremiah/10-8.htm">Jeremiah 10:8</a> But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood! <a href="/habakkuk/2-18.htm">Habakkuk 2:18-19</a> What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. / Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.” <a href="/1_corinthians/10-20.htm">1 Corinthians 10:20-21</a> No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. / You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too. <a href="/romans/1-21.htm">Romans 1:21-23</a> For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. / Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, / and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. <a href="/1_timothy/4-1.htm">1 Timothy 4:1</a> Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, <a href="/acts/17-29.htm">Acts 17:29</a> Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination. <a href="/1_corinthians/12-2.htm">1 Corinthians 12:2</a> You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. <a href="/galatians/4-8.htm">Galatians 4:8</a> Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. <a href="/revelation/9-20.htm">Revelation 9:20</a> Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.</div> <a name="tsk" id="tsk"><div class="vheading">Treasury of Scripture</div>My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declares to them: for the spirit of prostitutions has caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.ask.<a href="/jeremiah/2-27.htm">Jeremiah 2:27</a> Saying 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.<a href="/jeremiah/10-8.htm">Jeremiah 10:8</a> But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.<a href="/ezekiel/21-21.htm">Ezekiel 21:21</a> For 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.for.<a href="/hosea/5-4.htm">Hosea 5:4</a> They 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.<a href="/isaiah/44-18.htm">Isaiah 44:18-20</a> They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand… <a href="/micah/2-11.htm">Micah 2:11</a> If 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.gone.<a href="/hosea/9-1.htm">Hosea 9:1</a> Rejoice 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.<a href="/leviticus/17-7.htm">Leviticus 17:7</a> And 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.<a href="/leviticus/20-5.htm">Leviticus 20:5</a> Then 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.<div class="vheading">Jump to Previous</div><a href="/ezekiel/48-11.htm">Astray</a> <a href="/hosea/4-1.htm">Cause</a> <a href="/hosea/2-14.htm">Caused</a> <a href="/ezekiel/21-21.htm">Consult</a> <a href="/daniel/4-27.htm">Counsel</a> <a href="/jeremiah/38-27.htm">Declareth</a> <a href="/hosea/1-2.htm">Departing</a> <a href="/jeremiah/23-32.htm">Err</a> <a href="/hosea/4-10.htm">False.</a> <a href="/daniel/6-27.htm">Gives</a> <a href="/hosea/4-10.htm">Harlot</a> <a href="/ezekiel/8-5.htm">Idol</a> <a href="/hosea/4-1.htm">Indeed</a> <a href="/ezekiel/20-3.htm">Inquire</a> <a href="/daniel/7-13.htm">Led</a> <a href="/daniel/11-44.htm">News</a> <a href="/lamentations/2-14.htm">Oracles</a> <a href="/hosea/4-10.htm">Play</a> <a href="/hosea/2-5.htm">Played</a> <a href="/hosea/4-11.htm">Prostitution</a> <a href="/daniel/10-12.htm">Spirit</a> <a href="/ezekiel/29-6.htm">Staff</a> <a href="/ezekiel/37-19.htm">Stick</a> <a href="/ezekiel/44-22.htm">Stock</a> <a href="/jeremiah/29-26.htm">Stocks</a> <a href="/daniel/4-26.htm">Tree</a> <a href="/hosea/2-5.htm">Unfaithful</a> <a href="/ezekiel/44-10.htm">Wandering</a> <a href="/hosea/2-4.htm">Whoredoms</a> <a href="/ezekiel/23-30.htm">Whoring</a> <a href="/daniel/5-23.htm">Wood</a> <a href="/ezekiel/41-25.htm">Wooden</a><div class="vheading2">Jump to Next</div><a href="/amos/2-4.htm">Astray</a> <a href="/hosea/8-11.htm">Cause</a> <a href="/hosea/11-3.htm">Caused</a> <a href="/acts/15-2.htm">Consult</a> <a href="/hosea/10-6.htm">Counsel</a> <a href="/amos/4-13.htm">Declareth</a> <a href="/hosea/9-1.htm">Departing</a> <a href="/amos/2-4.htm">Err</a> <a href="/hosea/4-18.htm">False.</a> <a href="/hosea/5-5.htm">Gives</a> <a href="/hosea/4-15.htm">Harlot</a> <a href="/hosea/8-5.htm">Idol</a> <a href="/hosea/7-9.htm">Indeed</a> <a href="/zephaniah/1-6.htm">Inquire</a> <a href="/hosea/11-4.htm">Led</a> <a href="/amos/3-9.htm">News</a> <a href="/acts/7-38.htm">Oracles</a> <a href="/hosea/4-13.htm">Play</a> <a href="/hosea/5-3.htm">Played</a> <a href="/hosea/4-14.htm">Prostitution</a> <a href="/hosea/5-4.htm">Spirit</a> <a href="/micah/7-14.htm">Staff</a> <a href="/hosea/10-7.htm">Stick</a> <a href="/nahum/3-6.htm">Stock</a> <a href="/acts/16-24.htm">Stocks</a> <a href="/hosea/9-10.htm">Tree</a> <a href="/hosea/5-7.htm">Unfaithful</a> <a href="/hosea/8-9.htm">Wandering</a> <a href="/hosea/5-4.htm">Whoredoms</a> <a href="/hosea/9-1.htm">Whoring</a> <a href="/micah/7-14.htm">Wood</a> <a href="/hosea/10-6.htm">Wooden</a><div class="vheading2">Hosea 4</div>1. <a href="/hosea/4-1.htm">God denounces judgments on Israel, for their aggravated impieties and iniquities.</a> 12. <a href="/hosea/4-12.htm">He exposes the ignorance and wickedness of the priests, </a> 13. <a href="/hosea/4-13.htm">and moral dissolution of the people, </a> 14. <a href="/hosea/4-14.htm">he will leave their wives and daughters to commit lewdness, without present punishment.</a> 15. <a href="/hosea/4-15.htm">He warns Judah, not to imitate Israel's crimes, which are still further reproved.</a> </div></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script>  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div>  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div>  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div>  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div>  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div> </td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="combox"><div class="padcom"><a name="study" id="study"></a><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top"><a href="/study/hosea/4.htm">Study Bible</a></td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/study/hosea/" title="Book Summary and Study">Book ◦</a> <a href="/study/chapters/hosea/4.htm" title="Chapter summary and Study">Chapter </a></tr></table></div>My people consult their wooden idols In ancient Israel, idolatry was a persistent issue, often involving the worship of wooden idols or carved images. This practice was strictly forbidden in the Mosaic Law (<a href="/exodus/20-3.htm">Exodus 20:3-4</a>). The Israelites' reliance on these idols reflects a departure from their covenant relationship with Yahweh. Archaeological findings have uncovered various Canaanite religious artifacts, indicating the influence of surrounding pagan cultures. The use of wooden idols signifies a tangible, yet powerless, substitute for the living God, highlighting the futility of idolatry (<a href="/isaiah/44-9.htm">Isaiah 44:9-20</a>).and their divining rods inform them Divining rods, or staffs, were tools used in ancient divination practices to seek guidance or predict the future. This practice is condemned in the Bible as it seeks knowledge apart from God (<a href="/deuteronomy/18-10.htm">Deuteronomy 18:10-12</a>). The use of such methods indicates a lack of trust in God's sovereignty and wisdom. The Israelites' reliance on divination reflects their spiritual adultery, as they turn to pagan practices instead of seeking God's will through His prophets and His Word.For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray The metaphor of prostitution is frequently used in the Bible to describe Israel's unfaithfulness to God (<a href="/jeremiah/3-6.htm">Jeremiah 3:6-10</a>). This "spirit of prostitution" suggests a pervasive and deep-seated inclination towards idolatry and spiritual infidelity. It implies a betrayal of the exclusive relationship God established with Israel, akin to marital unfaithfulness. This spiritual adultery is not just a physical act but a heart condition that leads the people away from their true devotion to God.and they have played the harlot against their God The imagery of harlotry underscores the severity of Israel's sin. By turning to other gods, the Israelites are depicted as being unfaithful to their divine "husband," Yahweh. This language is consistent with the covenantal relationship described in the Old Testament, where God is often portrayed as the husband of Israel (<a href="/isaiah/54-5.htm">Isaiah 54:5</a>). The prophetic message here is a call to repentance, urging the people to return to their covenantal obligations and fidelity to God. This theme of spiritual adultery and the call to return is echoed in the New Testament, where the Church is called to remain faithful to Christ, the bridegroom (<a href="/ephesians/5-25.htm">Ephesians 5:25-27</a>).<div class="vheading2">Persons / Places / Events</div>1. <a href="/topical/h/hosea.htm">Hosea</a> A prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, called by God to deliver messages of judgment and redemption. 2. <a href="/topical/i/israel.htm">Israel</a> The Northern Kingdom, often depicted as unfaithful to God, engaging in idolatry and spiritual adultery. 3. <a href="/topical/w/wooden_idols.htm">Wooden Idols</a> Objects of worship made from wood, representing the false gods that Israel turned to instead of the one true God. 4. <a href="/topical/d/divining_rods.htm">Divining Rods</a> Tools used in ancient practices to seek guidance or revelation, indicative of Israel's reliance on pagan practices. 5. <a href="/topical/s/spirit_of_prostitution.htm">Spirit of Prostitution</a> A metaphor for Israel's unfaithfulness to God, likening their idolatry to adultery.<div class="vheading2">Teaching Points</div><a href="/topical/i/idolatry's_deception.htm">Idolatry's Deception</a> Idolatry leads to spiritual blindness and estrangement from God. We must be vigilant against modern forms of idolatry, such as materialism or self-worship. <a href="/topical/f/faithfulness_to_god.htm">Faithfulness to God</a> Just as Israel was called to be faithful, Christians are called to remain true to God, avoiding spiritual adultery by prioritizing Him above all else. <a href="/topical/t/the_danger_of_syncretism.htm">The Danger of Syncretism</a> Mixing true worship with pagan practices dilutes faith and leads to spiritual confusion. We must guard against incorporating secular or non-biblical practices into our worship. <a href="/topical/r/repentance_and_restoration.htm">Repentance and Restoration</a> God desires repentance and offers restoration. Like Israel, we are called to turn back to God and seek His forgiveness and healing. <a href="/topical/t/the_role_of_the_holy_spirit.htm">The Role of the Holy Spirit</a> Unlike the "spirit of prostitution," the Holy Spirit leads us into truth and faithfulness. We should seek His guidance in all aspects of life.<a name="commentary" id="commentary"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/hosea/4.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(12) Their stocks.--Blocks of wood fashioned into idols (Heb., his wood, the collective singular being maintained).Their staff.--Cyril regarded this as referring to divinations by means of rods (????????????), which were placed upright, and after the repetition of incantations, allowed to fall, the forecast of the future being interpreted from the manner in which they fell. But perhaps the "staff" may refer, like the "stocks," to the idol itself. The Canaanite goddess Asherah was worshipped under this form.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/hosea/4.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div>Verses 12-14. - The first of these verses exhibits the private life of the people as depraved by sin and folly; the second their public life as degraded by idolatry and lewdness; while the third points to the corresponding chastisement and its cause. My people ask counsel at their stocks (literally, wood), and their staff declareth unto them. Rashi explains "stocks," or literally, "wood," to mean "a graven image made out of wood;" while Aben Ezra prefaces his exposition of this by an observation which serves well as a link of connection between the eleventh and twelfth verses. It is as follows: "The sign that they are in reality without heart, is that my people turn to ask counsel of its stocks and wood." Kimchi not inaptly remarks, "They are like the blind man to whom his staff points out the way in which he should go." The stupidity of idolatry and the sin of divination are here combined. By the "wood" is meant an idol carved out of wood; while the staff may likewise have an image carved at the top for idolatrous purposes, or it may denote mode of divination by a staff which by the way it fell determined their course. Theophylaet explains this method of divination as follows: "They set up two rods, and muttered some verses and enchantments; and then the rods falling through the influence of demons, they considered how they fell, whether forward or backward, to the right or the left, and so gave answers to the foolish people, using the fall of the rods for signs." Cyril, who attributes the invention of rabdomancy to the Chaldeans, gives the same account of this method of divination. Herodotus mentions a mode of divination prevalent among the Scythians by means of willow rods; and Tacitus informs us that the Germans divined by a rod cut from a fruit-bearing tree. "They (the Germans) cut a twig from a fruit tree, and divide it into small pieces, which, distinguished by certain marks, are thrown promiscuously on a white garment. Then the priest or 'the canton, it' the occasion be public - if private, the master of the family - after an invocation of the gods, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, thrice takes out each piece, and as they come up, interprets their signification according to the marks fixed upon them." The sin and folly of any people consulting an idol of wood about the success or otherwise of an undertaking, or deciding whether by a species of teraphim or staff divination, is sufficiently obvious. But the great aggravation of Israel's sin arose from the circumstance not obscurely hinted by the possessive "my" attached to "people." That a people like Israel, whom God had chosen from among the nations of the earth and distinguished by special tokens of Divine favor, and to whom he had given the ephod with the truly oracular Urim and Thummim, should forsake him and the means he had given them of knowing his will, and turn aside to gods of wood, evinced at once stupidity unaccountable and sin inexcusable. "The prophet," says Calvin, "calls here the Israelites the people of God, not to honor them, but rather to increase their sin; for the more heinous was the perfidy of the people, that, having been chosen, they had afterwards forsaken their heavenly Father.... Now this people, that ought to be mine, consult their own wood, and their staff answers them!" For the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a-whoring from under their God. In this part of the verse the prophet attempts to account for the extreme folly and heinous sin of Israel, as described in the first clause. It was an evil spirit, some demoniac power, that had inspired them with an insuperable fondness for idolatry, which in prophetic language is spiritual adultery. The consequence was a sad departure from the true God and a sinful wandering away from his worship, notwithstanding his amazing condescension and love by which he placed himself in the relation of a husband towards them. <a href="/commentaries/hosea/4-12.htm">Parallel Commentaries ...</a> <a name="lexicon" id="lexicon"></a><div class="vheading">Hebrew</div>My people עַמִּי֙ (‘am·mî) Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_5971.htm">Strong's 5971: </a> A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock consult יִשְׁאָ֔ל (yiš·’āl) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_7592.htm">Strong's 7592: </a> To inquire, to request, to demand their wooden idols, בְּעֵצ֣וֹ (bə·‘ê·ṣōw) Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_6086.htm">Strong's 6086: </a> Tree, trees, wood and their divining rods וּמַקְל֖וֹ (ū·maq·lōw) Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_4731.htm">Strong's 4731: </a> A shoot, stick inform them. יַגִּ֣יד (yag·gîḏ) Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_5046.htm">Strong's 5046: </a> To be conspicuous For כִּ֣י (kî) Conjunction <a href="/hebrew/strongs_3588.htm">Strong's 3588: </a> A relative conjunction a spirit ר֤וּחַ (rū·aḥ) Noun - common singular construct <a href="/hebrew/strongs_7307.htm">Strong's 7307: </a> Wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit of prostitution זְנוּנִים֙ (zə·nū·nîm) Noun - masculine plural <a href="/hebrew/strongs_2183.htm">Strong's 2183: </a> Adultery, idolatry leads them astray הִתְעָ֔ה (hiṯ·‘āh) Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person masculine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_8582.htm">Strong's 8582: </a> To vacillate, reel, stray and they have played the harlot וַיִּזְנ֖וּ (way·yiz·nū) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural <a href="/hebrew/strongs_2181.htm">Strong's 2181: </a> To commit adultery, to commit idolatry against מִתַּ֥חַת (mit·ta·ḥaṯ) Preposition-m <a href="/hebrew/strongs_8478.htm">Strong's 8478: </a> The bottom, below, in lieu of their God. אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃ (’ĕ·lō·hê·hem) Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural <a href="/hebrew/strongs_430.htm">Strong's 430: </a> gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative <div class="vheading">Links</div><a href="/niv/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 NIV</a> <a href="/nlt/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 NLT</a> <a href="/esv/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 ESV</a> <a href="/nasb/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 NASB</a> <a href="/kjv/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 KJV</a> <a href="//bibleapps.com/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 BibleApps.com</a> <a href="//bibliaparalela.com/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 Biblia Paralela</a> <a href="//holybible.com.cn/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 Chinese Bible</a> <a href="//saintebible.com/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 French Bible</a> <a href="/catholic/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12 Catholic Bible</a> <a href="/hosea/4-12.htm">OT Prophets: Hosea 4:12 My people consult with their wooden idol (Ho Hs Hos.) </a></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="/hosea/4-11.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Hosea 4:11"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Hosea 4:11" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="/hosea/4-13.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Hosea 4:13"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Hosea 4:13" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>