8 They eat the sin of my people, and their soul longeth for their iniquity.
The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in a holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting.
and the dogs are greedy, they know not to be satisfied, and these are shepherds that know not how to discern: they all turn to their own way, every one for his gain, even to the last of them:
Every male among the priests shall eat thereof; in a holy place shall it be eaten: it is most holy. As the sin-offering, so is the trespass-offering; [there shall] be one law for them: it shall be the priest's who maketh atonement therewith.
Who is there among you that would even shut the doors? and ye would not kindle [fire] on mine altar for nothing. I have no delight in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, neither will I accept an oblation at your hand.
who must have their mouths stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which ought not [to be taught] for the sake of base gain.
Wherefore do ye trample upon my sacrifice and upon mine oblation which I have commanded [in my] habitation? And thou honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the primest of all the oblations of Israel my people.
{[A Psalm] of David.} Unto thee, Jehovah, do I lift up my soul.
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire of me by him, I Jehovah will answer him by myself;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 4
Commentary on Hosea 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
Prophets were sent to be reprovers, to tell people of their faults, and to warn them of the judgments of God, to which by sin they exposed themselves; so the prophet is employed in this and the following chapters. He is here, as counsel for the King of kings, opening an indictment against the people of Israel, and labouring to convince them of sin, and of their misery and danger because of sin, that he might prevail with them to repent and reform.
Hsa 4:1-5
Here is,
Hsa 4:6-11
God is here proceeding in his controversy both with the priests and with the people. The people were as those that strove with the priests (v. 4) when they had priests that did their duty; but the generality of them lived in the neglect of their duty, and here is a word for those priests, and for the people that love to have it so, Jer. 5:31. And it is observable here how the punishment answers to the sin, and how, for the justifying of his own proceedings, God sets the one over-against the other.
Hsa 4:12-19
In these verses we have, as before,