ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Hosea 4.1

Book: Hosea · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

There are ads on our codex that pay for hosting and keep the codex free. If you can, please consider whitelisting ris3n.com or allowing scripts to support the work.

Sponsored

Brands, events, influencers advertise here

ASV

1. Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

  1. There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood. 3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. (Hosea 4:1-3, ASV)
WEB

1. Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

  1. There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed. 3. Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells therein will waste away. all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die. (Hosea 4:1-3, WEB)
KJV

1. Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

  1. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. blood: Heb. bloods 3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. (Hosea 4:1-3, KJV)
YLT

1. 'Hear a word of Jehovah, sons of Israel, For a strife [is] to Jehovah with inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor kindness, Nor knowledge of God, in the land,

  1. Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery, have increased, And blood against blood hath touched. 3. Therefore mourn doth the land, And weak is every dweller in it, With the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the fishes of the sea, they are removed. (Hosea 4:1-3, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

  • Speaker: YHWH, through Hosea, opening a formal indictment
  • Audience: the children of Israel and the inhabitants of the land
  • Location: the northern kingdom of Israel, repeatedly called Ephraim after its dominant tribe
  • Time period: c. 750-722 BC, from the last years of Jeroboam II through the dynastic chaos that followed to the eve of Samaria's fall to Assyria

Theological reading

Riv, rendered "controversy," is a legal term for a lawsuit, and chapter 4 opens the formal case. Three things are missing from the land: emet (truth or faithfulness), hesed (covenant loyalty), and da'at elohim (knowledge of God).

The third is not intellectual information but acknowledgment, the practical recognition of God that shows in conduct. That is why verse 2 immediately lists swearing, lying, murder, theft and adultery as what fills the vacuum, a catalogue that tracks the Decalogue. The diagnostic order matters and is the chapter's argument: the ethical collapse is presented as a symptom of the theological one, not as a separate problem to be addressed by better enforcement.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.