The Meaning of Hosea 4:14 Explained

Hosea 4:14

KJV: I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

YLT: Therefore commit whoredom do your daughters, And your spouses commit adultery, I do not see after your daughters when they commit whoredom, And after your spouses when they commit adultery, For they with the harlots are separated, And with the whores they do sacrifice, A people that doth not understand kicketh.

Darby: I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your daughters-in-law for their committing adultery; for they themselves go aside with harlots, and they sacrifice with prostitutes: and the people that doth not understand shall come to ruin.

ASV: I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go apart with harlots, and they sacrifice with the prostitutes; and the people that doth not understand shall be overthrown.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

I will not punish  your daughters  when they commit whoredom,  nor your spouses  when they commit adultery:  for themselves are separated  with whores,  and they sacrifice  with harlots:  therefore the people  [that] doth not understand  shall fall. 

What does Hosea 4:14 Mean?

Verse Meaning

However, Yahweh would not punish only the females in Israel, because the males were just as guilty. The females were unfaithful to their husbands, but their husbands were also engaging in immoral acts with pagan temple prostitutes.
"For homosexuals, homosexual prostitutes were provided ( 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12; 1 Kings 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7)." [1]
Thus this people marked by lack of understanding would come to ruin when God humbled them with punishment.

Context Summary

Hosea 4:11-19 - "joined To Idols"
The prophet does not mince his words in describing the morals of his time. We are reminded of Bunyan's words: "My original and inward pollution was my plague. It was always putting itself forth in me, and I was more loathsome in my own eyes than a toad, and I thought I was in God's eyes also. Corruption bubbled up in my heart as naturally as water in a fountain, and I thought that everyone had a better heart than I." Of course in Christ "we have redemption through His blood," and that means more than forgiveness; it implies the deliverance of the soul from the love and power of evil. But if the soul of man refuses this, obstinately and persistently, a time arrives when God gives him up to reap as he has sown.
The greatest gift we can make to our generation is that of unblemished character. Sir Leslie Stephen, the brilliant agnostic, in his mature life, went back to the grave of an undergraduate, who had been his pupil and had died in early life without having distinguished himself in his studies or athletics, but had lived the Christian life with transparent simplicity and lovableness. [source]

Chapter Summary: Hosea 4

1  God denounces judgments on Israel, for their aggravated impieties and iniquities
12  He exposes the ignorance and wickedness of the priests,
13  and moral dissolution of the people,
14  he will leave their wives and daughters to commit lewdness, without present punishment
15  He warns Judah, not to imitate Israel's crimes, which are still further reproved

What do the individual words in Hosea 4:14 mean?

Not I will punish on your daughters when they commit harlotry nor your brides they commit adultery for they with harlots [the men] go apart and with a ritual harlot offer sacrifices therefore people [who] do understand will be trampled
לֹֽא־ אֶפְק֨וֹד עַל־ בְּנוֹתֵיכֶ֜ם כִּ֣י תִזְנֶ֗ינָה וְעַל־ כַּלּֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙ תְנָאַ֔פְנָה כִּי־ הֵם֙ עִם־ הַזֹּנ֣וֹת יְפָרֵ֔דוּ וְעִם־ הַקְּדֵשׁ֖וֹת יְזַבֵּ֑חוּ וְעָ֥ם יָבִ֖ין יִלָּבֵֽט

אֶפְק֨וֹד  I  will  punish 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: פָּקַד 
Sense: to attend to, muster, number, reckon, visit, punish, appoint, look after, care for.
בְּנוֹתֵיכֶ֜ם  your  daughters 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: בַּת  
Sense: daughter.
תִזְנֶ֗ינָה  they  commit  harlotry 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine plural
Root: זָנָה 
Sense: to commit fornication, be a harlot, play the harlot.
וְעַל־  nor 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
כַּלּֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙  your  brides 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: כַּלָּה  
Sense: bride, daughter-in-law.
תְנָאַ֔פְנָה  they  commit  adultery 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person feminine plural
Root: נָאַף  
Sense: to commit adultery.
הַזֹּנ֣וֹת  harlots 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine plural
Root: זָנָה 
Sense: to commit fornication, be a harlot, play the harlot.
יְפָרֵ֔דוּ  [the  men]  go  apart 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: פָּרַד  
Sense: to separate, divide.
וְעִם־  and  with 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: עִם  
Sense: with.
הַקְּדֵשׁ֖וֹת  a  ritual  harlot 
Parse: Article, Adjective, feminine plural
Root: קָדֵשׁ  
Sense: female temple prostitute, harlot.
יְזַבֵּ֑חוּ  offer  sacrifices 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: זָבַח  
Sense: to slaughter, kill, sacrifice, slaughter for sacrifice.
וְעָ֥ם  therefore  people 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עַם 
Sense: nation, people.
יָבִ֖ין  [who]  do  understand 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: בִּין  
Sense: to discern, understand, consider.
יִלָּבֵֽט  will  be  trampled 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: לָבַט  
Sense: to throw down, thrust down, thrust out, thrust away.