Nor your brides when they commit adultery;
For the men themselves go apart with harlots,
And offer sacrifices with a aritual harlot.
Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.
Let not Judah offend.
aDo not come up to Gilgal,
Nor go up to bBeth Aven,
cNor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’—
Like a stubborn calf;
Now the Lord will let them forage
Like a lamb in1 open country.
And bthey shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
| << Hosea 4:15 | Hosea 4:17 >> |
Hosea 4:16
backsliding—Translate, "Israel is refractory, as a refractory heifer," namely, one that throws the yoke off her neck. Israel had represented God under the form of "calves" (I Kings 12:28); but it is she herself who is one.
lamb in a large place—not in a good sense, as in Isaiah 30:23. Here there is irony: lambs like a large pasture; but it is not so safe for them as a small one, duly fenced from wild beasts. God will "feed" them, but it shall be with the "rod" (Micah 7:14). It shall be no longer in the narrow territory of Israel, but "in a large place," namely, they shall be scattered in exile over the wide realm of Assyria, a prey to their foes; as lambs, which are timid, gregarious, and not solitary, are a prey when scattered asunder to wild beasts.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Hosea 4:16:
Jeremiah 6:28
Jeremiah 7:24
Hosea 4:19
| << Hosea 4:15 | Hosea 4:17 >> |
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