Hosea 4:13

They offer sacrifices on the tops of mountains; they burn incense in the hills under the oak, poplar, and terebinth trees where the shade is pleasant. That's the reason why your daughters practice prostitution and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

Free Bible Version

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

12My people consult their wooden idols and their divining rods give them answers, for a spirit of prostitution makes them go astray. Prostituting themselves, they have deserted their God.

14I will not punish your daughters when they practice prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because you men visit whores and sacrifice with temple prostitutes. A people who lack understanding end up in disaster.

Read all of Hosea 4

Cross References

2 Samuel 12:10So your descendants will always face the sword that kills because you treated me with contempt and stole Uriah's wife.

2 Kings 23:7He also demolished the quarters of the cult prostitutes that were in the Lord's Temple, where the women used to weave tapestries for the Asherah pole.

Isaiah 1:29You will be ashamed about how you enjoyed your pagan worship among the oak trees; you will be embarrassed because you chose the pleasure gardens of idols.

Isaiah 57:7You have committed adultery by idol worship on every high mountain; you went there to offer pagan sacrifices.

Jeremiah 3:6During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord told me, Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has prostituted herself on every high hill and under every green tree.

Ezekiel 6:13Then you will know that I am the Lord—when the idol worshipers lie dead among their idols and altars on the top of every hill and mountain, and under every green tree and large oak. These were the pagan shrines where they offered sweet-smelling incense to all their idols.

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 →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Hosea 4:13