Hosea 10:4

4 They speak [mere] words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields.

Hosea 10:4 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 10:4

They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant,
&c.] Those are other crimes they were guilty of, for which the wrath of God could not be awarded from them by a king, if they had one, or by any other. They had used vain and idle words in their common talk and conversation; and lying and deceitful ones to one another in trade and commerce, in contracts and promises; and so had deceived and overreached one another: they had belched out many "oaths of vanity" {u}: or vain oaths and curses; their mouths had been full of cursing and bitterness; and they made covenants with God, and their king, and with other kings and princes, and with one another, and had not kept them; and now for these things God had a controversy with them: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field;
either the judgment of God, his wrath and vengeance for the above sins, rose up and spread itself in all their cities, towns, and villages; or rather the judgment and justice they pretended to execute, instead of being what it should have been, useful and beneficial to the people, like a wholesome herb, sprung up like hemlock, bitter and poisonous, and spread itself in all parts of the kingdom. Injustice is meant; see ( Amos 6:12 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F21 (awv twla) "execrationes vanitatis", Schmidt.

Hosea 10:4 In-Context

2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will break down their altars, he will destroy their statues.

3 For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us?

4 They speak [mere] words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it.

6 Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria [as] a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

Footnotes

• [a] Or 'they pronounce words, they swear falsely, they make a covenant.'