Hosea 10:4

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.

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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Hosea 10:4 In-Context

2 Their sweet smiles are sheer lies. They're guilty as sin. God will smash their worship shrines, pulverize their god-images.

3 They go around saying, "Who needs a king? We couldn't care less about God, so why bother with a king? What difference would he make?"

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.

5 The people of Samaria travel over to Crime City to worship the golden calf-god. They go all out, prancing and hollering, taken in by their showmen priests. They act so important around the calf-god, but are oblivious to the sham, the shame.

6 They have plans to take it to Assyria, present it as a gift to the great king. And so Ephraim makes a fool of himself, disgraces Israel with his stupid idols.