Hosea 4:12
BSB · Public Domain (CC0)“My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.”
A short, plain-language explanation of Hosea 4:12 goes here — the kind of answer a reader (or an AI assistant) can quote in one breath. Original meaning coming soon.
“My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.”
Berean Standard Bible · Public Domain (CC0)“My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.”
King James Version · Public Domain“My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God.”
American Standard Version · Public Domain“My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring from under their God.”
Young's Literal Translation · Public DomainOther passages that echo Hosea 4:12 — 24 related verses from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Leviticus 17:7They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’
- Leviticus 20:5then I will set My face against that man and his family and cut off from among their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves with Molech.
- Numbers 15:39These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.
- Deuteronomy 31:16And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
- Judges 18:5Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to determine whether we will have a successful journey.”
- 2 Kings 17:7All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods
- 2 Chronicles 21:13but you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab prostituted itself. You have also killed your brothers, your father’s family, who were better than you.
- Psalms 73:27Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.
- Isaiah 44:18They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
- Isaiah 44:20He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
- Jeremiah 2:27say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble they beg, ‘Rise up and save us!’
- Jeremiah 3:1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers— and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 10:8But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
- Jeremiah 23:13“Among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.
- Ezekiel 16:1Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezekiel 20:32When you say, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the peoples of the lands, serving wood and stone,’ what you have in mind will never come to pass.
- Ezekiel 21:21For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.
- Ezekiel 23:1Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Hosea 5:4Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.
- Hosea 6:10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled.
- Hosea 9:1Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
- Micah 2:11If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
- Habakkuk 2:19Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,
Cross-reference data: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain) via OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).