Hosea 4:16

For Israel has gone astray like a wanton heifer; so now the Lord will pasture them like a young lamb in a wide expanse.

Catholic Public Domain Version

In The King James Version

For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

In Context

15If you commit fornication, Israel, at least let Judah not commit offenses; and do not be willing to enter into Gilgal, nor to ascend to Bethaven, and neither should you swear, “As the Lord lives.”

17Ephraim participates in idolatry, so send him away.

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Cross References

Leviticus 26:33Then I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will unsheathe the sword after you. And your land will be deserted, and your cities will be demolished.

Isaiah 5:17And the lambs will pasture in proper order, and new arrivals will eat from the deserts turned into fertile lands.

Isaiah 22:18He will crown you with a crown of tribulation. He will toss you like a ball into a broad and spacious land. There you will die, and there the chariot of your glory will be, for it is a shame to the house of your Lord.”

Jeremiah 3:8that because the apostate Israel had committed adultery, I had dismissed her and had given her a bill of divorce. Yet her deceitful sister Judah was not afraid. But she, too, went and committed fornication herself.

Jeremiah 5:6For this reason, a lion from the forest has struck them down, a wolf toward evening has laid waste to them, a leopard lies in wait over their cities. All who go out from there will be taken. For their transgressions have been multiplied; their rebellions have been strengthened.

Jeremiah 8:5Then why have this people in Jerusalem turned away with a contentious loathing? They have taken hold of what is false, and they are not willing to return.

Matthew Henry on Hosea 4:13-19

The Sins of the Priests and the People; Warning to Judah. ( b. c. 758.) 12 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. 13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. 14 I will not punish… Read the whole commentary →

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