They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity.
Parallel translations
- WEB They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity.
- KJV They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
- BSB They feed on the sins of My people and set their hearts on iniquity.
- NASB They feed on the sin of My people, And long for their wrongdoing.
- NLT “When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin!
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
The priests feed on the people's sin offerings and even desire the people to sin more. Greed has corrupted their sacred office.
Overview
Because the priests received portions of the sin offerings, they had a perverse interest in the people's continued sinning, which increased their food. They thus profited from the very iniquity they were meant to curb. This exposes the depth of the priesthood's corruption, turning a means of grace into an instrument of self-serving greed, and it sharpens God's case against Israel's leaders.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Titus 1:11whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake.
- Mic 3:11Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”
- Isa 56:11Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.
- Lev 6:26The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the Tent of Meeting.
- 1 Sam 2:29Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’
- Lev 7:6–7Every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy.
- Mal 1:10“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
- Ps 24:4He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.
- Rom 16:18For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
- Ezek 14:7“‘“For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself.
- Ezek 14:3“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?
- Ps 25:1By David. To you, Yahweh, do I lift up my soul.
- 2 Pet 2:3In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
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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 4:8 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.