Bible Strands
Hosea 4:10
They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have abandoned the LORD to give themselves
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Hosea delivers this oracle from God to Israel during a covenant lawsuit detailing impending judgment for spiritual adultery and idolatry. The pronouncement targets both the people and the priests for their collective rebellion.
The words — The text uses הִזְנ֖וּ (hiz.Nu), literally "they will prostitute themselves," paired with יִפְרֹ֑צוּ (yif.Ro.tzu), meaning "they will increase." These verbs frame the paradox of spiritual adultery yielding no generational or covenantal fruit.
The thread — This pattern of futile consumption appears in Micah 6:14, where acquired goods cannot be preserved, and in Leviticus 26:26, where rationed bread fails to meet physical needs. Haggai 1:6 similarly records that agricultural labor and economic effort yield no lasting provision.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that abandoning the covenant breaks the link between human effort and divine blessing. It requires the reader to stop treating spiritual compromise as a viable alternative to obedience.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Micah 6:14 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.
- Leviticus 26:26 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.
- Haggai 1:6 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.”
- Psalms 36:3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
- Psalms 125:5 But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.
- Proverbs 13:25 A righteous man eats to his heart’s content, but the stomach of the wicked is empty.
- Zephaniah 1:6 and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”
- 2 Chronicles 24:17 After the death of Jehoiada, however, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them.
- Isaiah 65:13 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
- Ezekiel 18:24 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.