They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.
Parallel translations
- WEB They make promises, swearing falsely in making covenants. Therefore judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
- KJV They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
- BSB They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
- NKJV They have spoken words, Swearing falsely in making a covenant. Thus judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.
- NASB They speak mere words, With worthless oaths they make covenants; And judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They speak empty words and swear false oaths in making covenants, so injustice springs up like poisonous weeds in the field.
Overview
Israel's dealings are marked by broken promises and false swearing, corrupting both society and its agreements. The result is judgment that sprouts like bitter, poisonous weeds among the furrows. The verse condemns covenant-breaking and dishonesty, contrasting them with the faithful and true God who keeps every promise in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Hos 4:2There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
- Amos 6:12Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;
- Amos 5:7You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:
- 2 Kgs 17:3–4Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute.
- Ezek 17:13–19He took some of the royal offspring, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land;
- Deut 29:18lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;
- Rev 8:10–11The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of the waters.
- Isa 59:13–15transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
- Heb 12:15looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it;
- 2 Tim 3:3without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good,
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
- Hos 6:7But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.
- Rom 1:31without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;
- Acts 8:23For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 10:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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