Hosea 4:2

KJV1611 – Modern English

By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אָלֹ֣ה וְכַחֵ֔שׁ וְרָצֹ֥חַ וְגָנֹ֖ב וְנָאֹ֑ף פָּרָ֕צוּ וְדָמִ֥ים בְּדָמִ֖ים נָגָֽעוּ׃

Transliteration

ʾālōh wə-kaḥēš wə-rāṣōaḥ wə-gānōb wə-nāʾōf pārāṣû wə-dāmîm bə-dāmîm nāgāʿû

Grammar Details

• *ʾālōh*: infinitive absolute - swearing/cursing
• *wə-kaḥēš*: conjunction + infinitive absolute - and lying/deceiving
• *wə-rāṣōaḥ*: conjunction + infinitive absolute - and murdering
• *wə-gānōb*: conjunction + infinitive absolute - and stealing
• *wə-nāʾōf*: conjunction + infinitive absolute - and committing adultery
• *pārāṣû*: perfect, 3rd person common plural - they break out/burst forth
• *wə-dāmîm*: conjunction + noun, masculine plural - and bloodshed/blood
• *bə-dāmîm*: preposition + noun, masculine plural - with/against bloodshed/blood
• *nāgāʿû*: perfect, 3rd person common plural - they touched/reached

Word Meanings

• *ʾālōh*: swearing falsely/cursing
• *kaḥēš*: lying/deceiving/denying
• *pārāṣû*: break out/burst through/increase/spread abroad
• *dāmîm*: bloodshed/blood guilt/bloodiness
• *nāgāʿû*: touched/reached/struck/approached

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  There is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  There is nought but swearing{H422} and breaking faith,{H3584} and killing,{H7523} and stealing,{H1589} and committing adultery;{H5003} they break out,{H6555} and blood{H1818} toucheth{H5060} blood.{H1818}

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  By swearing{H422}{(H8800)}, and lying{H3584}{(H8763)}, and killing{H7523}{(H8800)}, and stealing{H1589}{(H8800)}, and committing adultery{H5003}{(H8800)}, they break out{H6555}{(H8804)}, and blood{H1818} toucheth{H5060}{(H8804)} blood{H1818}.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  but swearinge, lyege, maslaughter, theft and aduoutry haue gotten the ouerhande, & one bloudgiltynesse foloweth another.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and whoring they breake out, and blood toucheth blood.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  But swearing, lying, manslaughter, theft, and adulterie, hath gotten the ouer hande, and one bloodgiltinesse foloweth another.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; They break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery -- have increased, And blood against blood hath touched.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  There is cursing and broken faith, violent death and attacks on property, men are untrue in married life, houses are broken into, and there is blood touching blood.

• World English Bible (2000)

  There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. They resort to violence and bloodshed.

Referenced Verses

• Hos 6:9 : 9 And as bands of robbers wait for someone, so the company of priests murder on the way by agreement: for they commit lewdness.
• Hos 7:1 : 1 When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was exposed, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief comes in, and the gang of robbers plunders outside.
• Jer 5:26-27 : 26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay in wait, as he who sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they have become great, and grown rich.
• Jer 6:7 : 7 As a fountain casts out her waters, so she casts out her wickedness; violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually are grief and wounds.
• Jer 7:6-9 : 6 If you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your harm; 7 Then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. 8 Behold, you trust in deceptive words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know; 10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
• Mic 7:2 : 2 The good man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men; they all lie in wait for blood, they hunt each his brother with a net.
• Zeph 3:1 : 1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
• Zech 5:3 : 3 Then he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on this side; and everyone who swears shall be cut off according to it on that side.
• Zech 7:9 : 9 Thus says the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother:
• Matt 23:35 : 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
• Acts 7:52 : 52 Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they have killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers,
• 1 Thess 2:15 : 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God, and are contrary to all men:
• Rev 17:6 : 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; and when I saw her, I marveled with great wonder.
• Isa 24:5 : 5 The earth also is defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
• Isa 48:1 : 1 Listen to this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, and mention the God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness.
• Isa 59:2-8 : 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness. 4 No one calls for justice, nor does anyone plead for truth: they trust in vanity and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. 5 They hatch viper’s eggs and weave the spider's web: he who eats of their eggs dies, and what is crushed breaks out into a viper. 6 Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; devastation and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they do not know; and there is no justice in their paths: they have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever walks therein shall not know peace.
• Isa 59:12-15 : 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; 13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 And judgment is turned backward, and justice stands far off: for truth has fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 15 Yes, truth fails; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
• Jer 5:1-2 : 1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon it. 2 And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.
• Jer 5:7-9 : 7 How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. 8 They were like well-fed horses in the morning: everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. 9 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
• Jer 9:2-8 : 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 And they bend their tongues like a bow for lies; but they are not valiant for the truth on the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the LORD. 4 Take heed every one of his neighbor, and do not trust in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders. 5 And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says the LORD. 7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and test them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is like an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait.
• Jer 23:10-14 : 10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their power is not right. 11 For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says the LORD. 12 Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall in it; for I will bring disaster upon them, the year of their punishment, says the LORD. 13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal and caused my people Israel to err. 14 I have also seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness. They are all to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah.
• Lam 4:13 : 13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, who have shed the blood of the just in her midst,
• Ezek 22:2-9 : 2 Now, you son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, you shall show her all her abominations. 3 Then say, Thus says the Lord GOD, The city sheds blood in its midst, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself. 4 You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and have defiled yourself with your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years: therefore I have made you a reproach to the heathen, and a mocking to all countries. 5 Those who are near, and those who are far from you, shall mock you, who are infamous and much vexed. 6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one, were in you using their power to shed blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt: in your midst they have dealt oppressively with the stranger: in you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised My holy things, and have profaned My sabbaths. 9 In you are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in you they eat on the mountains: in the midst of you they commit lewdness. 10 In you they have uncovered their fathers' nakedness: in you they have humbled her who was set apart for impurity. 11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter. 12 In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken usury and increase, and you have greedily gained from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me, says the Lord GOD. 13 Behold, therefore I have struck My hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been in your midst.
• Ezek 22:25-30 : 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in its midst, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in its midst. 26 Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned My holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and unholy, neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in its midst are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery, and have wronged the poor and needy: yes, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
• Hos 5:2 : 2 And the rebels are deep in slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.
• Hos 7:3 : 3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
• Hos 10:4 : 4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springs up as poison in the furrows of the field.
• Hos 12:14 : 14 Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly; therefore He will leave his blood upon him, and his Lord shall repay his reproach to him.
• Mic 2:1-3 : 1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. 2 They covet fields and take them by violence, and houses, and take them away; so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. 3 Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, against this family I devise an evil from which you shall not remove your necks; neither shall you go haughtily, for this time is evil.
• Mic 3:2 : 2 Who hate good and love evil; who strip their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
• Mic 3:9 : 9 Hear this, I pray you, you leaders of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
• Mic 6:10 : 10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is abominable?