Hosea 4:13

On the heads, either tops, of mountains they made sacrifice, and on the little hills they burnt incense under an oak, and a poplar, and a terebinth, for the shadow thereof was good. Therefore your daughters shall do fornication, and your wives shall be adulteresses. (On the tops of the mountains they made sacrifice, and on the little hills they burned incense under an oak, and a poplar, and a terebinth, for its shadow was good. And so your daughters do adultery, or idolatry, and your wives be adulteresses.)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

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 asked in his tree, and the staff thereof told to it; for the spirit of fornication deceived them, and they did fornication, (going away) from their God. (My people asked for counsel, or advice, from their piece of wood, and a staff, or a stick, told them what to do; and so the spirit of adultery, or of idolatry, deceived them, and they did adultery, or idolatry, and went away from their God.)

14I shall not visit on your daughters, when they do fornication, and on your wives, when they do adultery; for they lived with whores, and made sacrifice with men turned into women’s conditions. And the people that understandeth not, shall be beaten. (Yet I shall not punish your daughters, when they do adultery, or idolatry, and your wives, when they also do adultery, or idolatry; for ye yourselves have sought out whores, and made sacrifice to idols. And so the people who understandeth not, shall bring ruin upon themselves.)

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Cross References

2 Samuel 12:10Wherefore a sword shall not go away from thine house till into without end; for thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah (the) Hittite, that she should be thy wife.

2 Kings 23:7Also he destroyed the little houses of [the] womanish men, the which houses were in the house of the Lord; for the which houses women weaved, or wattled, as little houses of the wood. (And he destroyed the little houses of the male whores of the Temple, which houses were attached to the House of the Lord; and where women weaved, or wattled, vestments used in honouring and worshipping Asherah.)

Isaiah 1:29For they shall be ashamed of [the] idols, to which they made sacrifice; and ye shall be ashamed on the orchards, which ye choosed, (or and ye shall be ashamed of the gardens dedicated, or consecrated, to idols, which ye have planted).

Isaiah 57:7Thou puttedest thy bed on an high hill and enhanced (or Thou puttest thy bed on a high and exalted hill), and thither thou ascendedest to offer sacrifices;

Jeremiah 3:6And the Lord said to me, in the days of Josiah, the king, Whether thou hast seen what thing the adversary, Israel, hath done? She went [away] to herself on each high hill, and under each tree full of boughs, and did fornication there. (And the Lord said to me, in the days of King Josiah, Hast thou seen what my adversary, Israel, hath done? She went upon each high hill, and under each tree full of branches, and she did fornication there.)

Ezekiel 6:13And ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when your slain men shall be in the midst of your idols, in the compass of your altars, in each high little hill, and in all the highnesses of mountains, and under each tree full of wood, and under each oak full of boughs, that is, a place where they burnt incense sweet smelling to all their idols. (And ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when your slain shall be in the midst of your idols, all around your altars, on each high little hill, and on all the highnesses of the mountains, and under every thick tree, and under every oak with many branches, that is, the place where they burned 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 →

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