¶Infidelity, wine, and new wine take away the understanding.
Parallel translations
- WEB Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
- KJV Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
- BSB Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
- NKJV “Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart.
- NLT to worship other gods. “Wine has robbed my people of their understanding.
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
Prostitution and drunkenness rob the people of understanding. Indulgence in sin clouds the mind and corrupts judgment.
Overview
Sexual immorality, often bound up with idolatrous worship, together with wine and strong drink, strips away the capacity for sound thinking. The verse diagnoses how sin enslaves not only the body but also the mind, dulling discernment. It warns that habitual indulgence leaves a person spiritually and morally senseless, unable to grasp the truth of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 20:1Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Luke 21:34“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
- Isa 28:7They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.
- Prov 23:27–35For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
- Prov 6:32He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.
- Eccl 7:7Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.
- Isa 5:12The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
- Hos 4:12My 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.
- Rom 13:11–14Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:11 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.