They are all adulterers, Like an oven heated by the baker, Who stops stoking the fire From the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.
Parallel translations
- WEB They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.
- KJV They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.
- BSB They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker who needs not stoke the fire from the kneading to the rising of the dough.
- NKJV “Theyare all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened.
- NLT They are all adulterers, always aflame with lust. They are like an oven that is kept hot while the baker is kneading the dough.
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 are all adulterers, their burning passions compared to a baker's oven left to heat untended.
Overview
Hosea pictures the people's lust and treachery as a hot oven, smoldering and ready to flame into open sin. The imagery of the baker who lets the fire build conveys passions that grow until they consume. This vivid metaphor exposes hearts inflamed with evil, highlighting humanity's need for the new heart promised in the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 9:2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
- Jas 4:4You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
- Jer 5:7–8“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses.
- Hos 4:2There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
- 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.
- Hos 7:6–7For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.
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 7:4 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
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.