---
title: "Commentary on Hosea"
author: "John Calvin"
translator: "John Owen"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 76 of 86
url: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/76/
cite: "John Calvin, tr. John Owen, Commentary on Hosea, section 76. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/76/"
---

# Commentary on Hosea

*John Calvin, tr. John Owen*

Calvin on Hosea, the prophet of a faithful God and an unfaithful people.

## 76. Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/76/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/76/#p-N

[¶0] 1 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; For a contention has Jehovah with the inhabitants of the land, For there is no faithfulness and no kindness, And no knowledge of God in the land:

[¶1] 2 Cursing, and lying, and murder, And stealing, and adultery, have burst forth; And blood have touched blood.

[¶2] 3 Mourn therefore shall the land, And languish shall every one who dwells in it; Together with the beast of the field, the bird of heaven, And also the fish of the sea, shall they be taken away.

[¶3] 4 But yet no man may rebuke and reprove a man; For thy people are as those who chide the priest.

[¶4] 5 Fall then shalt thou in the daytime, And fall also shall the Prophet with thee in the night; And I will destroy thy mother.

[¶5] 6 Perished have my people without knowledge: As thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, That thou shalt not discharge for me the priesthood; And as thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, Thy children will I also forget.

[¶6] 7 According to their increase, so have they sinned against me: Their glory will I turn to shame.

[¶7] 8 The sin of my people they eat, And to their iniquity they raise up the soul of each. (154)

[¶8] 9 And it shall be, as the people so shall be the priest; And I will visit on them their ways, And their works will I repay them:

[¶9] 10 For they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied: They shall play the wanton, and shall not increase; For Jehovah have they left off to serve.

[¶10] 11 Wantonness and wine, and new wine, take away the heart.

[¶11] 12 My people their wood consult, And their staff answers them; For the spirit of wantonness has deceived them, And they have played the wanton away from their God:

[¶12] 13 On the tops of mountains they sacrifice, And on hills they burn incense — Under the oak, and the poplar, and the teil-tree, For pleasant is its shade. Therefore your daughters shall become wanton, And your daughters-in-law shall be adulteresses. —

[¶13] 14 I will not punish your daughters, because they become wanton, Nor your daughters-in-law, because they have committed adulteries; For they with strumpets separate themselves, And with harlots they sacrifice: — And the people who understand not shall stumble.

[¶14] 15 If thou, Israel, art become wanton, let not Judah offend; Come ye not to Gilgal, nor ascend into Bethaven, Nor swear, Jehovah liveth.

[¶15] 16 For as an untameable heifer, untameable is Israel: Now feed him will Jehovah, as a tender lamb, in a spacious place.

[¶16] 17 To idols has Ephraim joined himself; — leave him.

[¶17] 18 Putrid is become their drink, By wantoning they have become wanton; “Bring ye,” have their princes shamefully loved.

[¶18] 19 They have bound up wind in their wings, And ashamed they shall be of their sacrifices.