Hosea 4:12

KJV1611 – Modern English

My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, and their staff declares to them, for the spirit of harlotry has caused them to err, and they have gone astray under their God.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

עַמִּי֙ בְּעֵצ֣וֹ יִשְׁאָ֔ל וּמַקְל֖וֹ יַגִּ֣יד ל֑וֹ כִּ֣י ר֤וּחַ זְנוּנִים֙ הִתְעָ֔ה וַיִּזְנ֖וּ מִתַּ֥חַת אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃

Transliteration

ʿammî bə-ʿēṣô yišʾāl û-maqlô yaggîd lô kî rûaḥ zənûnîm hitʿâ wa-yiznû mi-ttaḥat ʾĕlōhêhem

Grammar Details

• *ʿammî*: noun + 1st person singular suffix - my people
• *bə-ʿēṣô*: preposition + noun + 3rd person masculine singular suffix - in/with his wood/wooden idol
• *yišʾāl*: imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he asks/inquires
• *û-maqlô*: conjunction + noun + 3rd person masculine singular suffix - and his staff/rod
• *yaggîd*: imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular, hiphil - it tells/informs/declares
• *lô*: preposition + 3rd person masculine singular suffix - to him
• *kî*: conjunction - for/because
• *rûaḥ*: noun, feminine singular construct - spirit of
• *zənûnîm*: noun, masculine plural - harlotries/prostitutions
• *hitʿâ*: perfect, 3rd person masculine singular, hiphil - it led astray
• *wa-yiznû*: conjunction + imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural - and they commit fornication
• *mi-ttaḥat*: preposition + preposition - from under
• *ʾĕlōhêhem*: noun, masculine plural + 3rd person masculine plural suffix - their God

Word Meanings

• *ʿēṣ*: wood/tree/wooden idol
• *šāʾal*: ask/inquire/request
• *maqqēl*: staff/rod/stick/divining rod
• *nāgad* (hiphil): tell/inform/declare/announce
• *rûaḥ*: spirit/wind/breath
• *zənûnîm*: harlotry/prostitution/unfaithfulness
• *tāʿâ* (hiphil): lead astray/cause to wander/mislead
• *mi-ttaḥat*: from under/from beneath

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  My people consult their wooden idols, and their staffs provide guidance for them. A spirit of prostitution has led them astray; they have been unfaithful under their God.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of wredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a wring from under their God.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  My people{H5971} ask{H7592} counsel at their stock,{H6086} and their staff{H4731} declareth{H5046} unto them; for the spirit{H7307} of whoredom{H2183} hath caused them to err,{H8582} and they have played the harlot,{H2181} [departing] from under their God.{H430}

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  My people{H5971} ask{H7592}{(H8799)} counsel at their stocks{H6086}, and their staff{H4731} declareth{H5046}{(H8686)} unto them: for the spirit{H7307} of whoredoms{H2183} hath caused them to err{H8582}{(H8689)}, and they have gone a whoring{H2181}{(H8799)} from under their God{H430}.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  My people axe councel at their stockes, their staffe must tell them. For an whorish mynde hath disceaued them, so yt they comitte fornicacion agaynst their God.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  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.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  My people aske counsell at their stockes, and their staffe teacheth them: for the spirite of fornication hath caused them to go astray, and they haue committed fornication against their God.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  ¶ 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.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  My people consult with their wooded 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.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  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.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  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.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  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.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  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.

• World English Bible (2000)

  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.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery against their God.

Referenced Verses

• Jer 2:27 : 27 Saying to a tree, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
• Hos 5:4 : 4 They will not direct their deeds to turn to their God: for the spirit of prostitution is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.
• Hab 2:19 : 19 Woe to him who says to the wood, Awake; to the mute stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst.
• Isa 44:18-20 : 18 They have not known nor understood: for he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none considers in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yes, also I have baked bread on the coals of it; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? shall I fall down to the stump of a tree? 20 He feeds on ashes: a deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
• 2 Thess 2:9-9 : 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
• Hos 9:1 : 1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, like other peoples, for you have gone astray from your God; you have loved a reward upon every threshing floor.
• Mic 2:11 : 11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood lies, saying, I will prophesy to you of wine and strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
• Jer 3:1-3 : 1 They say, If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, shall he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the LORD. 2 Lift up your eyes to the high places and see where you have not been violated. On the roads you have sat for them, like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your whoredoms and your wickedness. 3 Therefore, the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a harlot's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.
• Jer 10:8 : 8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the wooden idol is a doctrine of vanities.
• Ezek 16:1-9 : 1 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, make Jerusalem aware of her abominations, 3 And say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. 4 And as for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion upon you; but you were cast out into the open field, to the loathing of your person, on the day you were born. 6 And when I passed by you, and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said to you when you were in your blood, Live; yes, I said to you when you were in your blood, Live. 7 I have caused you to multiply like the bud of the field, and you have increased and grown great, and you have come to excellent ornaments; your breasts are formed, and your hair has grown, whereas you were naked and bare. 8 Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my garment over you, and covered your nakedness; yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine. 9 Then I washed you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with badger's skin, and I wrapped you about with fine linen, and I covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you also with ornaments, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, honey, and oil; you were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered into a kingdom. 14 And your fame went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect through my splendor, which I had bestowed upon you, says the Lord GOD. 15 But you trusted in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your fornications on everyone that passed by; it was his. 16 And of your garments you took, and decked your high places with different colors, and played the harlot thereupon; such things shall not come, nor shall it be so. 17 You have also taken your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and committed whoredom with them, 18 And took your embroidered garments, and covered them; and you have set my oil and my incense before them. 19 My food also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet aroma; and thus it was, says the Lord GOD. 20 Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these have you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Is this of your whoredoms a small matter, 21 That you have slain my children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 22 And in all your abominations and your whoredoms you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood. 23 And it came to pass after all your wickedness, (woe, woe unto you! says the Lord GOD;) 24 That you have also built yourself an eminent place, and have made yourself a high place in every street. 25 You have built your high place at every head of the way, and have made your beauty to be abhorred, and have opened your feet to everyone that passed by, and multiplied your whoredoms. 26 You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have increased your whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary food, and delivered you to the will of those that hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. 28 You have played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied. 29 You have moreover multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea, and yet you were not satisfied with this. 30 How weak is your heart, says the Lord GOD, seeing you do all these things, the work of an imperious, whorish woman; 31 In that you build your eminent place at the head of every way, and make your high place in every street; and have not been as a harlot, that scorns payment; 32 But as a wife that commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and hire them, that they may come to you on every side for your whoredom. 34 And the opposite is in you from other women in your whoredoms, in that none pursue you to commit whoredoms; and in that you give a reward, and no reward is given to you, therefore you are contrary. 35 Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD; 36 Thus says the Lord GOD; Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your whoredoms with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your children, which you gave to them: 37 Behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those that you have loved, with all those that you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will uncover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38 And I will judge you, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give you blood in fury and jealousy. 39 And I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your eminent place, and shall break down your high places; they shall strip you also of your clothes, and shall take your beautiful jewels, and leave you naked and bare. 40 They shall also bring up an assembly against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. 41 And they shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women; and I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you also shall give no remuneration any more. 42 So will I make my fury toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. 43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have grieved me in all these things; behold, therefore I will recompense your way upon your head, says the Lord GOD; and you shall not commit this lewdness above all your abominations. 44 Behold, everyone that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 45 You are your mother's daughter, that loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathe their husbands and their children; your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 46 And your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at your left hand; and your younger sister, that dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet you have not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways. 48 As I live, says the Lord GOD, neither has your sister Sodom and her daughters done anything as you have done, you and your daughters. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. 51 Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all your abominations which you have done. 52 You also, who have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins that you have committed more abominable than they; they are more righteous than you; yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. 53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of your captives in the midst of them; 54 That you may bear your own shame, and may be confounded in all that you have done, in that you are a comfort unto them. 55 When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, then you and your daughters shall return to your former state. 56 For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, 57 Before your wickedness was discovered, as at the time of your reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you round about. 58 You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says the LORD. 59 For thus says the Lord GOD; I will even deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant. 61 Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger; and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant. 62 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the LORD: 63 That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.
• Ezek 21:21 : 21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.
• Ezek 23:1-9 : 1 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 3 And they committed harlotry in Egypt; they committed harlotry in their youth: there their breasts were pressed, and there they bruised the nipples of their virginity. 4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. Thus were their names: Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. 5 And Aholah played the harlot while she was mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians her neighbors, 6 Who were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. 7 Thus she committed her harlotries with them, with all the choice men of Assyria, and with all on whom she lusted: with all their idols she defiled herself. 8 She did not leave her harlotries brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their harlotry upon her. 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she lusted. 10 They uncovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and killed her with the sword: and she became notorious among women; for they had executed judgment upon her. 11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotries more than her sister in her harlotries. 12 She lusted upon the Assyrians her neighbors, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they both followed the same way, 14 And that she increased her harlotries: for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 15 Girded with sashes upon their loins, excellently attired upon their heads, all of them looking like princes, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity: 16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she lusted upon them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their harlotry, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. 18 So she uncovered her harlotries, and uncovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, just as my mind was alienated from her sister. 19 Yet she multiplied her harlotries, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, when she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 20 For she lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21 Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, in bruising your breasts by the Egyptians for the pleasures of your youth. 22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your mind is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side; 23 The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses. 24 And they shall come against you with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against you buckler and shield and helmet all around: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal furiously with you: they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by the fire. 26 They shall also strip you of your clothes, and take away your fine jewels. 27 Thus will I make your lewdness cease from you, and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt: so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more. 28 For thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom your mind is alienated: 29 And they shall deal with you hatefully, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare: and the nakedness of your harlotries shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotries. 30 I will do these things to you, because you have gone a whoring after the heathen, and because you are polluted with their idols. 31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore will I give her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord GOD; You shall drink of your sister's cup, deep and large: you shall be laughed to scorn and held in derision; it contains much. 33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria. 34 You shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall break its shards, and pluck off your own breasts: for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD. 35 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you shall also bear your lewdness and your harlotries. 36 The LORD said moreover to me; Son of man, will you judge Aholah and Aholibah? Yes, declare to them their abominations; 37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire, to devour them. 38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house. 40 And furthermore, you have sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and, behold, they came: for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments, 41 And sat upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, upon which you set my incense and my oil. 42 And a voice of a multitude at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, who put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 43 Then said I to her who was old in adulteries, Will they now commit harlotries with her, and she with them? 44 Yet they went in to her, as they go in to a woman that plays the harlot: so they went in to Aholah and to Aholibah, the lewd women. 45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. 46 For thus says the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be removed and plundered. 47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease from the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. 49 And they shall repay your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
• Lev 17:7 : 7 And they shall no longer offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have gone whoring. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
• Lev 20:5 : 5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.
• Num 15:39 : 39 And it shall be for you a fringe, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, in which you used to go astray:
• Deut 31:16 : 16 And the LORD said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
• 2 Chr 21:13 : 13 but have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and have led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into idolatry as the house of Ahab did, and have also killed your brothers, who were better than you,
• Ps 73:27 : 27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.