Hosea 4:14

14 But why should I punish them for their prostitution and adultery? For your men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes. O foolish people! You refuse to understand, so you will be destroyed.

Hosea 4:14 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 4:14

I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredoms,
nor your spouses when they commit adultery
Either not punish them at all, so that they shall go on in sin, and to a greater degree, to the disgrace and reproach of their parents and husbands; or not as yet, or not so severely in them, because it was by their example they were led into it. Jarchi's note is very impertinent, that God threatens them with the disuse of the bitter waters of jealousy. The words are by some rendered interrogatively, "shall I not punish your daughters?" &c. ^F18; verily I will; and not them only, but their parents and husbands too, who deserve more severe corrections: for themselves are separated with whores, and sacrifice with harlots;
they separated themselves to Baalpeor, that shameful idol, ( Hosea 9:10 ) , the Priapus of the Gentiles, in whose idolatrous worship many obscene rites were used; these men separated themselves from their wives, as well as from God and his worship, and from the company and conversation of men, and in private committed uncleanness with the women that attended, and with the female priests that officiated at the worship of idols; those "sanctified" ones, as the word may be rendered; and after that ate of things offered to idols with them. So the Targum,

``they associated themselves with whores, and ate and drank with harlots.''

Some versions understand the latter of catamites, or sodomitical persons, and of the wickedness practised by them in such places. Therefore the people that doth not understand;
the law, as the Targum; what is to be done, and what to be avoided; the difference between the true and false religion; have no knowledge of divine and spiritual things, at least are very wavering and unsettled in their minds about religion, having thought little, and know less, of the matter: shall fall:
into idolatry and adultery, led by such examples. So the Septuagint version, "is implicated with a whore"; or "embraces a whore", as the Syriac and Arabic versions; see ( Proverbs 7:22 ) ( 22:14 ) or shall fall into calamities, ruin, and destruction; shall be dashed, as the Targum; so the Arabic interpreter of ( Mark 9:26 ) ( Luke 9:42 ) , uses the word: though Aben Ezra and Kimchi say, that in the Arabic language it signifies to be perplexed and disturbed, so as not to know what to do {s}. The first sense seems to be best, of being scandalized, offended, and stumbling and falling into sin; and which Abarbinel suggests, and it agrees with what follows concerning Judah.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 So Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.
F19 Vid. R. Sol. Urbin, Ohel Moed, fol. 43. 2.

Hosea 4:14 In-Context

12 They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God.

13 They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops. They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees. “That is why your daughters turn to prostitution, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

14 But why should I punish them for their prostitution and adultery? For your men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes. O foolish people! You refuse to understand, so you will be destroyed.

15 “Though you, Israel, are a prostitute, may Judah not be guilty of such things. Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven, and do not take oaths there in the LORD ’s name.

16 Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. So should the LORD feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture?