Bible Strands
Hosea 4:11
to promiscuity, wine, and new wine, which take away understanding.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Hosea addresses Israel during a period of covenant abandonment, describing how the nation has pursued empty pursuits instead of remaining faithful to God.
The words — The text highlights זְנוּת (ze.Nut), literally "prostitution," and לֵב (Lev), meaning "heart," to show how illicit alliances and intoxicants directly impair moral and spiritual discernment.
The thread — This warning against substances that cloud judgment recurs in Proverbs 20:1, Isaiah 28:7, and Luke 21:34, where intoxication or dissipation is consistently linked to lost wisdom and weighed-down hearts.
Why it lands — It demands that readers examine what they allow to consume their attention, recognizing that unchecked indulgence systematically destroys the capacity to perceive divine instruction and act with clarity.
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
Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Luke 21:34 But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.
- Isaiah 28:7 These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
- Proverbs 6:32 He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
- Proverbs 23:27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
- Ecclesiastes 7:7 Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
- Isaiah 5:12 At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.
- Hosea 4:12 My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
- Romans 13:11 And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.