And it shall be like people, like priest. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
Parallel translations
- WEB It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.
- KJV And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
- NKJV And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
- NASB And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.
- NLT ‘And what the priests do, the people also do.’ So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds.
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 declares that priest and people will share the same judgment, each repaid for their deeds. No special status will shield the guilty.
Overview
The proverb 'like people, like priest' means the corrupt leaders and the people they misled will fall together under the same punishment. God's justice repays each according to his ways, without partiality toward the religious elite. The verse affirms the evenhandedness of divine judgment and warns that office or privilege offers no exemption from accountability before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- Matt 15:14Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
- Isa 24:2people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
- Jer 23:11–12“For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
- Hos 1:4Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel, for soon I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.
- Zech 1:6But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
- Hos 9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.
- Ezek 22:26–31Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
- Prov 5:22The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- Isa 3:10Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Jer 8:10–12Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
- Ps 109:17–18The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.
- Hos 8:13Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.
- Isa 9:14–16So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 4:9 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.