Hosea 4:12 “My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform t…”

Hosea 4:12

My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James Version

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.

World English Bible

My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God.

American Standard Version

My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God.

Geneva Bible 1599

My people aske counsell at their stockes, and their staffe teacheth them: for the spirite of fornications hath caused them to erre, and they haue gone a whoring from vnder their God.

Darby Translation

My people ask counsel of their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredoms causeth [them] to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God:

Young's Literal Translation

My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring from under their God.

Bible in Basic English

My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their wandering, and they have been false to their God.

.mt-body { max-height: none !important; -webkit-mask-image: none !important; mask-image: none !important; } .mt-bar { display: none !important; } .o-trans::after { display: block !important; }

Cross references

“ask”

Jeremiah 2:27 Habakkuk 2:19 Jeremiah 10:8 Ezekiel 21:21

Jeremiah 2:27 · BSB

say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’

Habakkuk 2:19 · BSB

Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

Jeremiah 10:8 · BSB

But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

Ezekiel 21:21 · BSB

For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.

“for”

Hosea 5:4 Isaiah 44:18–20 Micah 2:11 2 Thessalonians 2:9–11

Hosea 5:4 · BSB

Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

Isaiah 44:18–20 · BSB

They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

Micah 2:11 · BSB

If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!

2 Thessalonians 2:9–11 · BSB

The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,

“gone”

Numbers 15:39 Deuteronomy 31:16 Hosea 9:1 Leviticus 17:7 Leviticus 20:5 2 Chronicles 21:13

Numbers 15:39 · BSB

These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.

Deuteronomy 31:16 · BSB

And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant…

Hosea 9:1 · BSB

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

Leviticus 17:7 · BSB

They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’

Leviticus 20:5 · BSB

then I will set My face against that man and his family and cut off from among their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves with Molech.

2 Chronicles 21:13 · BSB

but you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab prostituted itself. You have also killed your brothers, your fa…

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

11to promiscuity, wine, and new wine, which take away understanding.

13They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

Read Hosea 4