Hosea 4:10
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They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have stopped obeying the LORD.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
"They will eat, and not be satisfied; they commit whoredom, and do not increase: for they have left off taking heed to Jehovah." The first clause, which still refers to the priests on account of the evident retrospect in ואכלוּ to יאכלוּ in Hos 4:8, is taken from the threat in Lev 26:16. The following word hiznū, to practise whoredom (with the meaning of the kal intensified as in Lev 26:18, not to seduce to whoredom), refers to the whole nation, and is to be taken in its literal sense, as the antithesis לא יפרצוּ requires. Pârats, to spread out, to increase in number, as in Exo 1:12 and Gen 28:14. In the last clause Lשׁמר belongs to Jehovah: they have given up keeping Jehovah, i.e., giving heed to Him (cf. Zac 11:11). This applies to the priests as well as to the people. Therefore God withdraws His blessing from both, so that those who eat are not satisfied, and those who commit whoredom do not increase.
Open source ↗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. I. He shows them what were the grounds of God's controversy with them, a general prevalency of vice and profaneness (Hos 4:1, Hos 4:2), ignorance and forgetfulness of God (Hos 4:6, Hos 4:7), the worldly-mindedness of the priests (Hos 4:8), drunkenness and uncleanness (Hos 4:11), using divination and witchcraft (Hos 4:12), offering sacrifice in the high places (Hos 4:13), whoredoms (Hos 4:14, Hos 4:18), and bribery among magistrates (Hos 4:18). II. He shows them what would be the consequences of God's controversy. God would punish them for these things (Hos 4:9). The whole land should be laid waste (Hos 4:3), all sorts of people cut off (Hos 4:5), their honour lost (Hos 4:7), their creature-comforts unsatisfying (Hos 4:10), and themselves made ashamed (Hos 4:19). And, which is several times mentioned here as the sorest judgment of all, they should be let alone in their sins (Hos 4:17), they shall not reprove one another (Hos 4:4), God will not punish them (Hos 4:14), nay, he will let them prosper (Hos 4:16). III. He gives warning to Judah not to tread in the steps of Israel, because they saw their steps went down to hell (Hos 4:15).
Open source ↗4:10 God’s judgment matches the punishment to the crime. The Israelites worshiped Canaanite fertility deities with the expectation of bountiful crops and herds, but God’s judgment was that they would still be hungry and their religious prostitution would gain them nothing.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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You will eat but not be satisfied, and your hunger will remain with you. What you acquire, you will not preserve; and what you save, I will give to the sword.
When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”
But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.
The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
A righteous man eats to his heart’s content, but the stomach of the wicked is empty.
and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”
But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.
After the death of Jehoiada, however, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them.
I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.