Hosea 10:4

4 They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.

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Hosea 10:4 in Other Translations

KJV

4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

ESV

4 They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

NLT

4 They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.

MSG

4 They talk big, lie through their teeth, make deals. But their high-sounding words turn out to be empty words, litter in the gutters.

CSB

4 They speak [mere] words, taking false oaths while making covenants. So lawsuits break out like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Hosea 10:4 In-Context

2 Their heart is deceitful, and now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will demolish their altars and destroy their sacred stones.

3 Then they will say, “We have no king because we did not revere the LORD. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us?”

4 They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.

5 The people who live in Samaria fear for the calf-idol of Beth Aven.Its people will mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests, those who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into exile.

6 It will be carried to Assyria as tribute for the great king. Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be ashamed of its foreign alliances.