TRV
Translation
King James Version
And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
Complete Jewish Bible
But the cohen will fare no better than the people; I will punish him for his ways and pay him back for his deeds.
Berean Standard Bible
And it shall be like people, like priest. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
American Standard Version
And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings.
World English Bible Messianic
It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.
Geneva Bible (1599)
And there shalbe like people, like Priest: for I wil visite their wayes vpon them, and reward them their deedes.
Young's Literal Translation
And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it.
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In the KJVVerse 22,143 of 31,102
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Commentary on Hosea 4 verses 6–11
6 ¶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
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 (Hos 4:4) 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.
I. The people strove with the priests that should have taught them the knowledge of God; justly therefore were they destroyed for lack of knowledge, Hos 4:6. Note, Those that rebel against the light can expect no other than to perish in the dark. Or it is a charge upon the priests, who should have been still teaching the people knowledge (Ecc 12:9), but they did not, or did it in such a manner that it was as if they had not done it at all, so there was no knowledge of God in the land; and because there was no vision, or none to any purpose, the people perished, Pro 29:18. Note, Ignorance is so far from being the mother of devotion that it is the mother of destruction; lack of knowledge is ruining to any person or people. They are my people that are thus destroyed; their relation to God as his people aggravates both their sin in not taking pains to get the knowledge of that God whose command they were under and with whom they were taken into covenant, and likewise the sin of those who should have taught them; God set his children to school to them, and they never minded them nor took any pains with them.
II. Both priests and people rejected knowledge; and justly therefore will God reject them. The reason why the people did not learn, and the priests did not teach, was not because they had not the light, but because they hated it - not because they had not ways of coming to the knowledge of God and of communicating it, but because they had no heart to it; they rejected it. They desired not the knowledge of God's ways, but put it from them, and shut their eyes against the light; and therefore "I will also reject thee; I will refuse to take cognizance of thee and to own thee; you will not know me, but bid me depart; I will therefore say, Depart from me, I know you not. Thou shalt be no priest to me." 1. The priests shall be no longer admitted to the privileges, or employed in the services, of the priesthood, nor shall they ever be received again, as we find, Eze 44:13. Note, Ministers that reject knowledge, that are grossly ignorant and scandalous, ought not to be owned as ministers; but that which they seem to have should be taken away, Luk 8:18. 2. The people shall be no longer as they have been, a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood, Exo 19:6. God's people, by rejecting knowledge, forfeit their honour and profane their own crown.
III. They forgot the law of God, neither desired nor endeavoured to retain it in mind, nor to transmit the remembrance of it to their posterity, and therefore justly will God forget them and their children, the people's children; they did not educate them, as they ought to have done, in the knowledge of God and their duty to him, and therefore God will disown them, as not in covenant with him. Note, If parents do not teach their children, when they are young, to remember their Creator, they cannot expect that their Creator should remember them. Or it may be meant of the priests' children; they shall not succeed them in the priests' office, but shall be reduced to poverty, as is threatened against Eli's house, Sa1 2:20.
IV. They dishonoured God with that which was their honour, and justly therefore will God strip them of it, Hos 4:7. It was their honour that they were increased in number, wealth, power, and dignity. The beginning of their nation was small, but in process of time it greatly increased, and grew very considerable; the family of the priests increased wonderfully. But, as they were increased, so they sinned against God. The more populous the nation grew, the more sin was committed and the more profane they were; their wealth, honour, and power, did but make them the more daring in sin. Therefore, says God, will I change their glory into shame. Are their numbers their glory? God will diminish them and make them few. Is their wealth their glory? God will impoverish them and bring them low; so that they shall themselves be ashamed of that which they gloried in. Their priests shall be made contemptible and base, Mal 2:9. Note, That which is our honour, if we dishonour God with it, will sooner or later be turned into shame to us: for those that despise God shall be lightly esteemed, Sa1 2:30.
V. The priests ate up the sin of God's people, and therefore they shall eat and not have enough. 1. They abused the maintenance that was allowed to the priests, to the priests of the house of Aaron, by the law of God, and to the mock-priests of the calves by their constitution (Hos 4:8): They eat up the sin of my people, that is, their sin-offerings. If it be meant of the priests of the calves, it intimates their seizing that which they had no right to; they usurped the revenues of the priests, though they were no priests. If it be meant of those who were legal priests, it intimates their greediness of the profits and perquisites of their office, when they took no care at all to do the duty of it. They feasted upon their part of the offerings of the Lord, but forgot the work for which they were so well paid. They set their heart upon the people's iniquities; they lifted up their soul to them, that is, they were glad then people did commit iniquity, that they might be obliged to bring an offering to make atonement for it, which they should have their share of; the more sins the more sacrifices, and therefore they cared not how much sin people were guilty of. Instead of warning the people against sin, from the consideration of the sacrifices, which showed them what an offence sin was to God, since it needed such an expiation, they emboldened and encouraged the people to sin, since an atonement might be made at so small an expense. Thus they glutted themselves upon the sins of the people, and helped to keep up that which they should have beaten down. Note, It is a very wicked thing to be well pleased with the sins of others because, in some way or other, they may turn to our advantage. 2. God will therefore deny them his blessing upon their maintenance (Hos 4:10): They shall eat and not have enough. Though they have great plenty by the abundance of offerings that are brought in, yet they shall have no satisfaction in it. Either their food shall yield no good nourishment or their greedy appetites shall not be satisfied with it. Note, What is unlawfully gained cannot be comfortably used; no, nor that which is inordinately coveted; it is just that the desires which are insatiable should always be unsatisfied, and that those should never have enough who never know when they have enough. See Mic 6:14; Hag 1:6.
VI. The more they increased the more they sinned (Hos 4:7), and therefore though they commit whoredom, though they take the most wicked methods to multiply their people, yet they shall not increase. Though they have many wives and concubines, as Solomon had, yet they shall not have their families built up thereby in a numerous progeny, any more than he had. Note, Those that hope any way to increase by unlawful means will be disappointed. And therefore God will thus blast all their projects because they have left off to take heed to the Lord; time was when they had some regard to God, and to his authority over them and interest in them, but they have left it off; they take no heed to his word nor to his providences; they do not eye him in either. They forsake him, so as not to take heed to him; they have apostatized to such a degree that they have no manner of regard to God, but are perfectly without God in the world. Note, Those that leave off to take heed to the Lord leave off all good, and can expect no other than that all good should leave them.
VII. The people and the priests did harden one another in sin; and therefore justly shall they be sharers in the punishment (Hos 4:9): There shall be, like people, like priest. So they were in character; people and priest were both alike ignorant and profane, regardless of God and their duty, and addicted to idolatry: and so they shall be in condition; God will bring judgments upon them, that shall be the destruction both of priest and people; the famine that deprives the people of their meat shall deprive the priests of their meat-offerings, Joe 1:9. It is part of the description of a universal desolation that it shall be as with the people, so with the priest, Isa 24:2. God's judgments, when they come with commission, will make no difference. Note, Sharers in sin must expect to be sharers in ruin. Thus God will punish them both for their ways, and reward them for their doings. God will cause their doings to return upon them (so the word is); when a sin is committed the sinner thinks it is gone and he shall hear no more of it, but he shall find it called over again, and made to return, either to his humiliation or to his condemnation.
VIII. They indulged themselves in the delights of sense, to hold up their hearts; but they shall find that they take away their hearts (Hos 4:11): Whoredom, and wine, and new wine take away the heart. Some join this with the foregoing words. They have forsaken the Lord, to take heed to whoredom, and wine, and new wine. Or, Because these have taken away their heart. Their sensual pleasures have taken them off from their devotions and drowned all that is good in them. Or we may take it as a distinct sentence, containing a great truth which we see confirmed by every day's experience, that drunkenness and uncleanness are sins which besot and infatuate men, weaken and enfeeble them. They take away both the understanding and the courage.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 6–11. Public domain.
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JeromeAD 420
Commentary on Hosea 4:7-9
"According to their abundance, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame, they will eat the sins of my people, and lift up their souls to their iniquity, and it shall be as the people, so the priest, and I will visit upon him his ways, and render to him his thoughts." LXX: "According to their abundance, so they sinned against me, I will turn their glory into shame": they will eat the sins of my people, and receive them in their iniquities"; "others their souls, and it will be as the people, so also the priest, and I will take vengeance on him for his ways, and render to him his thoughts." Israel had as many altars built for demons as they had men, in whose sacrifices they sinned against me. Therefore, I will exchange their glory, in which they boasted to themselves and preferred to God, into ignominy, so that both the priests and the people may be captured. For indeed, the priests eat the sins of my people, concerning whom it is written: "Those who devour my people, like bread" (Ps 13:8). And therefore they eat the sins of my people, consenting to the crimes of wrongdoers since, when they witness them sinning, not only do they not rebuke them, but they praise and exalt them and call them blessed. About whom Isaiah speaks: "My people, who call you blessed, deceive you, and they "supplant" the paths of your feet" (Isa. III, 12). Concerning them, the Psalmist cries out: "For the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and the unjust is blessed" (Ps. IX, 24). Hence, both the people and the priest will equally endure the sentence of God's indignation; for not only will He visit the works that they call "ways," in which they walk, but also the thoughts which they have entertained to do such things. For not only the work, but also the contemplation of evil deeds will pay the penalty. It is easy to understand about heretics, that the more there are, the more they sin against God and glory in the people; and so they deceive the unfortunate, so that they may eat the sins of the people, and by sweet words devour the houses of widows (Luke XX). For when they see some sinning, they say: God seeks nothing else but the truth of faith, which if you keep, he does not care what you do. For by saying these things, they lift up their souls in their iniquities, so that they not only do not repent or humble themselves, but rejoice in their wicked deeds and walk with heads held high. Therefore both the people and the priest, the learned and the teachers of the law, will be equally punished.
Cyril of AlexandriaAD 444
COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 3:41
Seemingly he calls “ways” the walking in works and “counsels” the faults from outrageous thoughts. Then, he says, she [Israel] did not go rightly, having turned aside from the straight road. As if marching the footpath of all profanity, they devised the most shameful and absurd things, dishonoring the God of all while turning toward idolatry.
Julian of EclanumAD 455
COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 1:4
When, he says, the avenging judgment begins to work, these measures of griefs that they [Israel] made in sins will be filled, so that they may experience in punishments what they have achieved in desires.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 19
We do not seek to gain souls; we devote ourselves daily to our own pursuits, we attend to earthly matters, we strive for human praise with all our will. From being set over others we have greater freedom to do anything we like, and so we turn the ministry we have received into an occasion for display. We abandon God’s cause, and we devote ourselves to earthly business; we accept a place of holiness and involve ourselves in earthly deeds. What is written in Hosea is truly fulfilled in us: “And so it will be, like people, like priest.” A priest does not differ from the people when he does not surpass their deeds by any merit of his own.
Theophylact of OhridAD 1107
COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 4
By calling the deeds “ways” he says that “I will bring over them all the judgment and punishment for their deeds. And I will punish not the deeds only but also ‘his’ counsels,” namely, of the people. For we will suffer punishment not only for the deeds but for the outrageous thoughts.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Hosea 4:9 delivers a stark declaration of divine judgment against the Northern Kingdom of Israel, emphasizing that the widespread moral and spiritual corruption had permeated all levels of society, from the common people to the religious leaders. The verse proclaims a principle of equitable retribution: because both the populace and the priests had become indistinguishable in their rebellion and unfaithfulness, God would justly punish them according to their wicked actions and deeds, ensuring that none would escape accountability for their profound apostasy.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Hosea 4:9 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey its powerful message of judgment. The most prominent is Simile, found in the phrase "like people, like priest," which starkly compares the moral degradation of the general populace to that of the spiritual leadership. This comparison highlights the pervasive nature of sin and the failure of those meant to uphold righteousness. The verse also utilizes Parallelism in the second half: "I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings." This synonymous parallelism emphasizes the certainty and comprehensive nature of God's judgment, reiterating that both their conduct ("ways") and their actions ("doings") will incur divine retribution. Furthermore, there is a profound sense of Irony present, as the priests, who were consecrated to God and meant to lead the people in holiness, had become indistinguishable from the very people they were supposed to guide away from sin. This reversal of roles underscores the depth of Israel's spiritual decline and the severity of their apostasy.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Hosea 4:9 profoundly articulates the principle of divine justice and accountability, particularly highlighting the unique responsibility of spiritual leadership. The theological truth conveyed is that God holds all individuals, regardless of their status or position, accountable for their actions, and that the corruption of those entrusted with sacred duties has far-reaching and devastating consequences for the entire community. This verse underscores that God's character demands righteousness, and He will not overlook sin, especially when it pervades His covenant people and their designated leaders. It serves as a stark reminder that privilege and position do not exempt one from divine scrutiny, but rather intensify the expectation of faithfulness and integrity.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Hosea 4:9 serves as a timeless and sobering mirror for individuals and communities of faith today. It compels us to examine the state of our own hearts and the integrity of our leaders. The principle that "like people, like priest" warns against the normalization of sin and the erosion of moral distinctions within the church. It reminds us that true spiritual health requires both the congregation and its leadership to pursue genuine knowledge of God, embody His truth, and live in faithful obedience. When leaders compromise biblical standards or fail to model righteousness, the entire body suffers, and the church's witness is diminished. Conversely, when the people are spiritually apathetic or rebellious, they can corrupt their leaders. This verse calls for mutual accountability and a shared commitment to holiness, urging us to recognize that God's justice is impartial and that genuine repentance is always the path to restoration.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "like people, like priest" truly mean in this context?
Answer: The phrase "like people, like priest" (Hebrew: k'am k'kohen) is a powerful declaration signifying that the moral and spiritual corruption in ancient Israel had become so pervasive that there was no longer any meaningful distinction between the general populace and those in positions of spiritual authority. It means that the priests, who were meant to be holy and set apart to teach God's law and lead the people in righteousness, had themselves become just as unfaithful, idolatrous, and morally bankrupt as the common people. This indicates a complete breakdown of spiritual integrity and highlights the profound failure of the leadership to uphold their sacred duties, mirroring and even contributing to the nation's apostasy. It underscores a shared guilt and accountability before God.
Why was God's judgment so severe on both the people and the priests?
Answer: God's judgment was severe because the sin was pervasive and deeply entrenched, representing a profound betrayal of His covenant with Israel. The people had abandoned the knowledge of God, pursuing idolatry and immorality, as detailed in Hosea 4:1-2. The priests, however, bore an even greater responsibility. They were the custodians of the Law, meant to be the spiritual guides and intercessors, yet they had become complicit in the sin, even profiting from it (Hosea 4:8). Their failure to lead, teach, and uphold righteousness meant that the entire nation suffered from a "lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6), leading to their destruction. God, being perfectly just, could not overlook such widespread and deliberate unfaithfulness, especially from those entrusted with His sacred truths.
Does the word "reward" in this verse imply something positive?
Answer: No, in the context of Hosea 4:9, the word "reward" (Hebrew: shûwb, meaning "to turn back" or "repay") does not imply a positive recompense or blessing. Instead, it carries the strong connotation of retribution, repayment, or bringing back upon them the just consequences of their wicked actions. It signifies that God will give them what their "doings" deserve, which, given their unfaithfulness and sin, is punishment and judgment. This is a common prophetic usage where "reward" or "recompense" refers to the just deserts for evil deeds, aligning with the principle of reaping what one sows, as seen in Proverbs 1:31.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Hosea 4:9, with its stark portrayal of shared guilt and the failure of the priesthood, powerfully underscores humanity's profound need for a perfect High Priest and a righteous King. The corruption of Israel's priests, who were meant to mediate between God and His people, highlights the inherent limitations and ultimate inadequacy of the Old Covenant sacrificial system and its human administrators. Their inability to lead the people to true knowledge of God and their own complicity in sin revealed that no human priest could truly bridge the chasm created by sin. This points forward to Jesus Christ, who fulfills the priestly office flawlessly. He is the Great High Priest who is "holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26). Unlike the corrupt priests of Hosea's day, Jesus offered Himself as the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice, bearing the punishment for our "ways" and "doings," thereby satisfying divine justice on our behalf. In Christ, the principle of "like people, like priest" is reversed; through His perfect life and atoning death, He makes it possible for His people to be made righteous, transforming us into a holy priesthood who can truly offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, no longer mirroring the world's corruption but reflecting His glory.