Hosea 4:12

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Hosea 4:10–14 · Berean Standard Bible

10 They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have stopped obeying the LORD.

11 Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding.

12 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.

13 They 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.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Jeremiah 2:27

say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble they beg, ‘Rise up and save us!’

Jeremiah 10:8

But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

Ezekiel 21:21

For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.

Habakkuk 2:19

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.”

Hosea 5:4

Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

Isaiah 44:18

They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

Isaiah 44:19

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?”

Isaiah 44:20

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?”

Micah 2:11

If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!

2 Thessalonians 2:9

The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,

2 Thessalonians 2:10

and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

2 Thessalonians 2:11

For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,

Hosea 9:1

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

Leviticus 17:7

They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’

Leviticus 20:5

then I will set My face against that man and his family and cut off from among their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves with Molech.

Numbers 15:39

These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.

Deuteronomy 31:16

And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

2 Chronicles 21:13

but you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab prostituted itself. You have also killed your brothers, your father’s family, who were better than you.

Psalms 73:27

Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.

Jeremiah 3:1

“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers— and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:2

“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

Jeremiah 3:3

Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.

Ezekiel 16:1

Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 16:2

“Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominations

Ezekiel 16:3

and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

Ezekiel 16:4

On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

Ezekiel 16:5

No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth.

Ezekiel 16:6

Then I passed by and saw you wallowing in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, ‘Live!’ There I said to you, ‘Live!’

Ezekiel 16:7

I made you thrive like a plant of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

Ezekiel 16:8

Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 16:9

Then I bathed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and anointed you with oil.

Ezekiel 16:10

I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.

Ezekiel 16:11

I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.

Ezekiel 16:12

I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.

Ezekiel 16:13

So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be queen.

Ezekiel 16:14

Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect in the splendor I bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 16:15

But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty was theirs for the asking.

Ezekiel 16:16

You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!

Ezekiel 16:17

You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself.

Ezekiel 16:18

You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them.

Ezekiel 16:19

And you set before them as a pleasing aroma the food I had given you—the fine flour, oil, and honey that I had fed you. That is what happened, declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 16:20

You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?

Ezekiel 16:21

You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols.

Ezekiel 16:22

And in all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your own blood.

Ezekiel 16:23

Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord GOD. And in addition to all your other wickedness,

Ezekiel 16:24

you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.

Ezekiel 16:25

At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty. With increasing promiscuity, you spread your legs to all who passed by.

Ezekiel 16:26

You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.

Ezekiel 16:27

Therefore I stretched out My hand against you and reduced your portion. I gave you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd conduct.

Ezekiel 16:28

Then you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, because you were not yet satisfied. Even after that, you were still not satisfied.

Ezekiel 16:29

So you extended your promiscuity to Chaldea, the land of merchants—but even with this you were not satisfied!

Ezekiel 16:30

How weak-willed is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, while you do all these things, the acts of a shameless prostitute!

Ezekiel 16:31

But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

Ezekiel 16:32

You adulterous wife! You receive strangers instead of your own husband!

Ezekiel 16:33

Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.

Ezekiel 16:34

So your prostitution is the opposite of that of other women: No one solicited your favors, and you paid a fee instead of receiving one; so you are the very opposite!

Ezekiel 16:35

Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!

Ezekiel 16:36

This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,

Ezekiel 16:37

therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.

Ezekiel 16:38

And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy.

Ezekiel 16:39

Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.

Ezekiel 16:40

They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.

Ezekiel 16:41

Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.

Ezekiel 16:42

So I will lay to rest My wrath against you, and My jealousy will turn away from you. Then I will be calm and no longer angry.

Ezekiel 16:43

Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but enraged Me with all these things, I will surely bring your deeds down upon your own head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you not committed this lewdness on top of all your other abominations?

Ezekiel 16:44

Behold, all who speak in proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’

Ezekiel 16:45

You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

Ezekiel 16:46

Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters to your north; and your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters to your south.

Ezekiel 16:47

And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.

Ezekiel 16:48

As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did as you and your daughters have done.

Ezekiel 16:49

Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.

Ezekiel 16:50

Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them, as you have seen.

Ezekiel 16:51

Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and all the abominations you have committed have made your sisters appear righteous.

Ezekiel 16:52

So now you must bear your disgrace, since you have brought justification for your sisters. For they appear more righteous than you, because your sins were more vile than theirs. So you too must bear your shame and disgrace, since you have made your sisters appear righteous.

Ezekiel 16:53

But I will restore Sodom and her daughters from captivity, as well as Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore you along with them.

Ezekiel 16:54

So you will bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you did to comfort them.

Ezekiel 16:55

And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state. You and your daughters will also return to your former state.

Ezekiel 16:56

Did you not treat your sister Sodom as an object of scorn in the day of your pride,

Ezekiel 16:57

before your wickedness was uncovered? Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all those around her, and by the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you.

Ezekiel 16:58

You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the LORD.

Ezekiel 16:59

For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

Ezekiel 16:60

But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

Ezekiel 16:61

Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of My covenant with you.

Ezekiel 16:62

So I will establish My covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD,

Ezekiel 16:63

so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 23:1

Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 23:2

“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother,

Ezekiel 23:3

and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.

Ezekiel 23:4

The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 23:5

Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

Ezekiel 23:6

clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds.

Ezekiel 23:7

She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted.

Ezekiel 23:8

She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her.

Ezekiel 23:9

Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

Ezekiel 23:10

They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.

Ezekiel 23:11

Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.

Ezekiel 23:12

She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men.

Ezekiel 23:13

And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

Ezekiel 23:14

But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,

Ezekiel 23:15

wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

Ezekiel 23:16

At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

Ezekiel 23:17

Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

Ezekiel 23:18

When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.

Ezekiel 23:19

Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt

Ezekiel 23:20

and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.

Ezekiel 23:21

So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts.

Ezekiel 23:22

Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—

Ezekiel 23:23

the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them—all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses.

Ezekiel 23:24

They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards.

Ezekiel 23:25

And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.

Ezekiel 23:26

They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry.

Ezekiel 23:27

So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

Ezekiel 23:28

For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust.

Ezekiel 23:29

They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity

Ezekiel 23:30

have brought these things upon you, because you have prostituted yourself with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

Ezekiel 23:31

Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’

Ezekiel 23:32

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup deep and wide. It will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.

Ezekiel 23:33

You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

Ezekiel 23:34

You will drink it and drain it; you will dash it to pieces, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 23:35

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and prostitution.’”

Ezekiel 23:36

Then the LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you pass judgment against Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.

Ezekiel 23:37

For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to Me, in the fire as food for their idols.

Ezekiel 23:38

They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths.

Ezekiel 23:39

On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, they did this inside My house.

Ezekiel 23:40

Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.

Ezekiel 23:41

You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil,

Ezekiel 23:42

accompanied by the sound of a carefree crowd. Drunkards were brought in from the desert along with men from the rabble, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your head.

Ezekiel 23:43

Then I said of her who had grown old in adulteries: ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is!’

Ezekiel 23:44

And they slept with her as with a prostitute; they slept with Oholah and Oholibah, those lewd women.

Ezekiel 23:45

But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of those who commit adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses with blood on their hands.

Ezekiel 23:46

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring a mob against them and consign them to terror and plunder.

Ezekiel 23:47

The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.

Ezekiel 23:48

So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior.

Ezekiel 23:49

They will repay you for your indecency, and you will bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”