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Hosea 4:13

They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains And burn incense on the hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because the shade is pleasant there. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute And your brides commit adultery.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Elm;   Idolatry;   Minister, Christian;   Mountain;   Poplar;   Women;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Groves;   Oak-Tree, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Elm;   Groves;   Hosea;   Oak;   Popular;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Baal;   Prostitution;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Elm;   Jeroboam;   Poplar;   Spouse;   Teil Tree;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Hosea;   Oak;   Poplar;   Wine;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Adultery;   Fornication;   High Place;   Hosea;   Immorality;   Plants in the Bible;   Terebinth;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Elm;   Harlot;   Idolatry;   Oak;   Poplar;   Terebinth;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Elm;   Oak;   Poplar,;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Oak;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Elm;   Idolatry,;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Grove;   Oak;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Deuteronomy;   Elm;   Harlot;   Hill;   Hosea;   Idolatry;   Law in the Old Testament;   Oak;   Poplar;   Spouse;   Terebinth;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ashtoreth;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Chastity;   Groves and Sacred Trees;   High Place;   Incense;   Oak and Terebinth;   Willow;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They sacrifice on the mountaintops,and they burn offerings on the hills,and under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,because their shade is pleasant.And so your daughters act promiscuouslyand your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
Hebrew Names Version
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, And burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, Because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, And your brides commit adultery.
King James Version
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
English Standard Version
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery.
New American Standard Bible
They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains And burn incense on the hills, Under oak, poplar, and terebinth, Because their shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, And your brides commit adultery.
New Century Version
They make sacrifices on the tops of the mountains. They burn offerings on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and other trees, because their shade is nice. So your daughters become prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law are guilty of adultery.
Geneva Bible (1587)
They sacrifice vpon the toppes of ye mountaines, and burne incense vpon the hilles vnder the okes, and the poplar tree, and the elme, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall be harlots, and your spouses shall be whores.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains And burn incense on the hills, Under oak, poplar and terebinth, Because their shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters play the harlot And your brides commit adultery.
Legacy Standard Bible
They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountainsAnd burn incense on the hills,Under oak, poplar, and terebinthBecause their shade is good.Therefore your daughters play the harlot,And your brides commit adultery.
Berean Standard Bible
They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
Contemporary English Version
You offer sacrifices on mountaintops and hills, under oak trees, and wherever good shade is found. Your own daughters and daughters-in-law sell themselves for sex.
Complete Jewish Bible
They sacrifice on the mountain peaks and offer incense on the hills under oaks, poplars and pistachio trees; because they give good shade. Therefore your daughters behave like whores, And your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
Darby Translation
they sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because the shade thereof is good; therefore your daughters play the harlot and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
Easy-to-Read Version
They make sacrifices on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills under oak trees, poplar trees, and elm trees. The shade under those trees looks nice. So your daughters lie under those trees like prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit sexual sins.
George Lamsa Translation
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinth, because their shadow is good; therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom and your brides shall commit adultery.
Good News Translation
At sacred places on the mountaintops they offer sacrifices, and on the hills they burn incense under tall, spreading trees, because the shade is so pleasant! "As a result, your daughters serve as prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
Lexham English Bible
On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice, and on the hills they make offerings, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and all your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
Literal Translation
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because its shade is good. On account of this, your daughters shall prostitute, and your brides shall commit adultery.
American Standard Version
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery.
Bible in Basic English
They make offerings on the tops of mountains, burning perfumes in high places, under trees of every sort, because their shade is good: and so your daughters are given up to loose ways and your brides are false to their husbands.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and offer upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good; therefore your daughters commit harlotry, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
King James Version (1611)
They sacrifice vpon the tops of the mountaines, and burne incense vpon the hilles vnder okes and poplars, and elmes, because the shadowe thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredome, and your spouses shall commit adulterie.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
They make sacrifices vpon the tops of the mountaines, and burne their incense vpon the hilles, yea vnder the okes, poplars, and elmes, for there are good shadowes: therfore your daughters are become harlots, and your spouses haue broken their wedlocke.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
They have sacrificed on the tops of the mountains, and on the hills they have sacrificed under the oak and poplar, and under the shady tree, because the shade was good: therefore your daughters shall go a-whoring, and your daughters-in-law shall commit adultery.
English Revised Version
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your brides commit adultery.
World English Bible
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, And burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, Because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, And your brides commit adultery.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
On the heedis of mounteyns thei maden sacrifice, and on the litil hillis thei brenten encense vndur an ook, and a popeler, and terebynte, for the schadewe therof was good. Therfor youre douytris schulen do fornicacioun, and youre wyues schulen be auoutressis.
Update Bible Version
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters commit prostitution, and your brides commit adultery.
Webster's Bible Translation
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shade of them is agreeable: therefore your daughters shall be guilty of lewdness, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
New English Translation
They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
New King James Version
They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, And burn incense on the hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, And your brides commit adultery.
New Living Translation
They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops. They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees. "That is why your daughters turn to prostitution, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
New Life Bible
They give gifts in worship on the tops of the mountains and burn special perfume on the hills. They do this under oak, poplar and terebinth trees, because their shadow is pleasing. So your daughters are like women who sell the use of their bodies, and your brides do sex sins.
New Revised Standard
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and make offerings upon the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
On the headlands of the mountains, they sacrifice, and, on the hills, burn they incense, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because, pleasant, is the shade thereof: For this cause, do your daughters, become unchaste, and, your brides, commit adultery.
Douay-Rheims Bible
They offered sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burnt incense upon the hills: under the oak, and the poplar, and the turpentine tree, because the shadow thereof was good: therefore shall your daughters commit fornication, aud your spouses shall be adulteresses.
Revised Standard Version
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and make offerings upon the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery.
Young's Literal Translation
On tops of the mountains they do sacrifice, And on the hills they make perfume, Under oak, and poplar, and terebinth, For good [is] its shade.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They make sacrifice vpon the hie mountaynes, & burne their incense vpon the hilles, yee amonge the okes, groues & bu?shes, for there are good shadowes. Therfore yor doughters are become harlottes, and youre spouses haue broke their wedlocke

Contextual Overview

12My people consult their [lifeless] wooden idol, and their [diviner's] wand gives them oracles. For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray [morally and spiritually], And they have played the prostitute, withdrawing themselves from their God. 13They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains And burn incense on the hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because the shade is pleasant there. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute And your brides commit adultery.14I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute Or your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves slip away with prostitutes, And they offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes [who give their bodies in honor of the idol]. So the people without understanding [stumble and fall and] come to ruin. 15Though you, Israel, play the prostitute [by worshiping idols], Do not let Judah become guilty [of the same thing]; And do not go to Gilgal [where idols are worshiped], Or go up to Beth-aven (House of Wickedness), Nor swear [oaths in idolatrous worship, saying], "As the LORD lives!" 16For Israel is stubborn, Like a stubborn heifer. Can the LORD now pasture them Like a lamb in a large field? 17Ephraim is joined to idols, So let him alone [to suffer the consequences]. 18When their liquor is gone [and their drinking parties are over], They habitually go to play the prostitute; Ephraim's rulers continue to dearly love shame [more than her glory which is the LORD, Israel's God]. 19The wind [of God's relentless wrath] has wrapped up Israel in its wings, And [in captivity] they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices [to calves, to sun, to moon, to stars, and to pagan gods].

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

sacrifice: Isaiah 1:29, Isaiah 57:5, Isaiah 57:7, Jeremiah 3:6, Jeremiah 3:13, Ezekiel 6:13, Ezekiel 16:16, Ezekiel 16:25, Ezekiel 20:28, Ezekiel 20:29

therefore: 2 Samuel 12:10-12, Job 31:9, Job 31:10, Amos 7:17, Romans 1:23-28

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 12:2 - possess 2 Samuel 12:11 - I will take Proverbs 5:9 - General Jeremiah 5:7 - they then Jeremiah 17:2 - their children

Cross-References

Job 15:22
"He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered], And he is destined for the sword [of God's vengeance].
Revelation 16:9
People were [severely] burned by the great heat; and they reviled the name of God who has power over these plagues, but they did not repent [of their sin] and glorify Him.
Revelation 16:11
and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their anguish and their sores (abscesses, boils); and they did not repent of what they had done nor hate their wickedness.
Revelation 16:21
And giant hailstones, as heavy as a talent, fell from the sky on the people; and people reviled and spoke abusively of God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so very great.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,.... The highest part of them, nearest to the heavens, where they built their altars to idols, and offered sacrifice unto them, as we often read in Scripture they did:

and burn incense upon the hills; to their idols, which was one kind of sacrifice put for all others:

under oaks, and poplars, and elms; and indeed under every green tree that grew upon them, where there were groves of them raised up for this purpose; see Jeremiah 2:20:

because the shadow, thereof is good; the shadow of these trees, of each of them, was large, and preserved them from the sultry heat of the sun, as well as hid them from the sight of men; they could perform their idolatrous rites, as well as gratify their impure lusts, with more privacy and secrecy; and perhaps they thought the gods delighted in such shady places, and that these were frequented by spirits, and the departed souls of men; in such places the Heathens, whom the Jews imitated, built their temples, and offered their sacrifices g. The "oak" is a very spreading tree; its branches are large, and its shadow very great: hence the religious Heathens in ancient times used to live under them, and worship them as gods, and dedicate temples to them, because they furnished them with acorns for food, and a shelter from the rain, and other inclemencies of the heavens h; particularly the oak was consecrated to Jupiter, as appears from what Virgil says i. The oak at Dodona is famous for its antiquity, where were a fountain and groves, and a temple dedicated to the same Heathen deity; and from whence oracles were given forth k. The Druids here in Britain chose to have their groves of oaks; nor did they perform any of their sacred rites without the leaves of them: hence Pliny l says they had their name. The "poplar" mentioned is the white poplar, as the word used signifies, and which affords a very hospitable shadow, as the poet m calls it; and this was a tree also with the Heathens sacred to their gods, particularly to Hercules n; because it is said he brought it first into Greece from the river Acheron, where it grew; and the wood of no other tree would the Eleans use, in preparing the sacrifices for Jupiter Olympius o. The "elm" is also a very shady tree; hence Virgil p calls it "ulmus opaca, ingens": and under this tree sacrifices used to be offered to idols, as is evident from Ezekiel 6:13, where the same word is used as here, though it is there rendered an "oak"; but that it is different from the oak appears from these two words being read together, so that they cannot be names of one and the same tree, Isaiah 6:13, where it is rendered the "teil tree", as distinct from the oak. Now these trees being very shady ones, and under which the Gentiles used to perform their religious rites, the Jews imitated them therein, which is here complained of.

Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredoms, and your spouses shall commit adultery; or their "sons' wives" q; either spiritually, that is, commit idolatry by the example of their parents and husbands; or corporeally, being left at home while their parents and husbands were worshipping their idols upon the mountains, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi: and so this is to be considered as a punishment of the idolatry of their parents and husbands; that as they commit spiritual adultery against God, or idolatry, their daughters and wives shall be given up to such vile affections, or by force shall be made to commit corporeal adultery against them; or rather the sense is, led by the example of their parents and husbands, whom they see not only sacrifice to idols in the above places, but commit uncleanness with harlots there, they will throw off all shame, and commit whoredom with men: for so the words may be rendered, "hence your daughters", c. so Abarbinel.

g "Lucus in urbe fuit media, laetissimus umbra: Hic templum Junoni ingens Sidonia Dido Condebat." Virgil. Aeneid. l. 1. h Vid. Chartarii Imagines Deorum, p. 5. i "Sicubi magna Jovis antiquo robore quercus, Ingenteis tendat ramos------", Georgic. l. 3. "Altissima quercus erat Jovis signum", Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 4. c. 12. k Vid. Pausan. Attica, sive l. 1. p. 30. Achaica, sive l. 7. p. 438. Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 490. & Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 2. l Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 44. m "Qua pinus ingens albaque populus, Umbram hospitalem consociare amant Ramis------" Horat. n "Populus Alcidae gratissima", Virgil. Bucolic. Eclog. 7. Vid. Aeneid. l. 1. "Herculi populus", Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 1. o Pausan. Eliac. 1. sive l. 5. p. 313. p Aeneid. l. 6. q כלותיכם "nurus vestrae", Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator, Liveleus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Gussetius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains - The tops of hills or mountains seemed nearer heaven, the air was purer, the place more removed from the world. To worship the Unseen God upon them, was then the suggestion of natural feeling and of simple devotion. God Himself directed the typical sacrifice of Isaac to take place on a mountain; on that same mountain He commanded that the temple should be built; on a mountain, God gave the law; on a mountain was our Saviour transfigured; on a mountain was He crucified; from a mountain He ascended into heaven. Mountains and hills have accordingly often been chosen for Christian churches and monasteries. But the same natural feeling, misdirected, made them the places of pagan idolatry and pagan sins. The Pagan probably also chose for their star and planet-worship, mountains or large plains, as being the places from where the heavenly bodies might be seen most widely.

Being thus connected with idolatry and sin, God strictly forbade the worship on the high places, and (as is the case with so many of God’s commandments) man practiced it as diligently as if He had commanded it. God had said, “Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations, which ye shall possess, served their gods upon the high mountains, and upon the hills and under every green tree” Deuteronomy 12:2. But “they set them up images and groves (rather images of Ashtaroth) in every high hill and under every green tree, and there they burnt incense in all the high place, as did the pagan whom the Lord carried away before them” 2 Kings 17:10-11. The words express, that this which God forbade they did diligently; “they sacrificed much and diligently; they burned incense much and diligently” ; and that, not here and there, but generally, “on the tops of the mountains,” and, as it were, in the open face of heaven. So also Ezekiel complains, “They saw every high hill and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their sweet savor, and poured out there their drink-offerings” Ezekiel 20:28.

Under oaks - (white) poplars and elms (probably the terebinth or turpentine tree) because the shadow thereof is good The darkness of the shadow suited alike the cruel and the profligate deeds which were done in honor of their false gods. In the open face of day, and in secret they carried on their sin.

Therefore their daughters shall commit whoredoms, and their spouses - (or more probably, daughters-in-law) shall commit adultery Or (in the present) commit adultery. The fathers and husbands gave themselves to the abominable rites of Baal-peor and Ashtaroth, and so the daughters and daughters-in-law followed their example. This was by the permission of God, who, since they “glorified not” God as they ought, “gave them up,” abandoned them, “to vile affections.” So, through their own disgrace and bitter griefs, in the persons of those whose honor they most cherished, they should learn how ill they themselves had done, in departing from Him who is the Father and Husband of every soul. The sins of the fathers descend very often to the children, both in the way of nature, that the children inherit strong temptations to their parents’ sin, and by way of example, that they greedily imitate, often exaggerate, them. Wouldest thou not have children, which thou wouldest wish unborn, reform thyself. The saying may include too sufferings at the hands of the enemy. “What thou dost willingly, that shall your daughters and your daughters-in-law suffer against thine and their will.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hosea 4:13. Under oaks — אלון allon, from אלל alal, he was strong. Hence, the oak, in Latin, is called robur; which word means also, strength, the oak being the strongest of all the trees of the forest.

The shadow thereof is good — Their "daughters committed whoredom, and their spouses committed adultery."

1. Their deities were worshipped by prostitution.

2. They drank much in their idol worship, Hosea 4:11, and thus their passions became inflamed.

3. The thick groves were favourable to the whoredoms and adulteries mentioned here. In imitation of these, some nations have their public gardens.


 
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