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.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin.
- KJV I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.
- NKJV “I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, Nor your brides when they commit adultery; For the men themselves go apart with harlots, And offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot. Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.
- NASB I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, Or your brides when they commit adultery, Because the men themselves slip away with the prostitutes And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; So the people without understanding are ruined.
- NLT But why should I punish them for their prostitution and adultery? For your men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes. O foolish people! You refuse to understand, so you will be destroyed.
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
God says He will not single out the women for punishment, since the men themselves consort with cult prostitutes; a people without understanding falls into ruin. Shared guilt brings shared destruction.
Overview
The men who frequented the shrine prostitutes were as guilty as the daughters and brides, so judgment falls on all. God's point is not to excuse the women but to expose the hypocrisy of men who led the way into idolatrous immorality. The closing line, 'the people without understanding will come to ruin,' restates the chapter's theme that a nation lacking the knowledge of God destroys itself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- 1 Cor 6:16Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
- Hos 4:1Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!
- Eph 4:18They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
- Prov 28:5Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD comprehend fully.
- Isa 56:11Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
- Hos 14:9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.
- 2 Kgs 23:7He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
- John 8:43Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
- Dan 12:10Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.
- Hos 4:17Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!
- 1 Kgs 14:23–24They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
- Rom 3:11There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
- Isa 44:18–20They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
- Heb 12:8If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
- 1 Kgs 15:12He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
- Deut 23:17No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
- Isa 1:5Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
- Hos 4:5–6You will stumble by day, and the prophet will stumble with you by night; so I will destroy your mother—
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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 4:14 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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