potation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
sour
סָ֖רsar
H5493
to turn off (literal or figurative) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
whoredom
הַזְנֵ֣הhaz.Neh
H2181
to commit adultery (usually of the female · verb, hiphil infinitive absolute
continually
הִזְנ֔וּhiz.Nu
H2181
to commit adultery (usually of the female · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
rulers
מָגִנֶּֽיהָma.gi.Nei.ha
H4043
a shield (i.e. the small one or buckler) · adjective, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
shame
קָל֖וֹןka.Lon
H7036
disgrace · noun, common masculine singular absolute
love
אָהֲב֥וּ'a.ha.Vu
H157
to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
Give
יָהַבyâhab
H3051
to give (whether literal or figurative)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 30:15-16 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enou…
Micah 3:11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean up…
Exodus 23:8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Deuteronomy 16:19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert…
Deuteronomy 32:32-33 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
1 Samuel 8:3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
1 Samuel 12:3-4 Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom ha…
2 Kings 17:7-17 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from u…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 4:12–end
In these verses we have, as before,
I. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, for which God had a controversy with them, and they are,
1. Spiritual whoredom, or idolatry. They have in them a spirit of whoredoms, a strong inclination to that sin; the bent and bias of their hearts are that way; it is their own iniquity; they are carried out towards it with an unaccountable violence, and this causes them to err. Note, The errors and mistakes of the judgment are commonly owing to the corrupt affections; men therefore have a good opinion of sin, because they have a disposition towards it. And having such erroneous notions of idols, and such passionate motions towards them, no marvel that wit…
Their drink is sour--metaphor for utter degeneracy of principle (Isa 1:22). Or, unbridled licentiousness; not mere ordinary sin, but as abandoned as drunkards who vomit and smell sour with wine potations [CALVIN]. MAURER not so well translates, "When their drinking is over, they commit whoredoms," namely, in honor of Astarte (Hos 4:13-14).
her rulers--Israel's; literally, "shields" (compare Psa 47:9).
with shame . . . love, Give ye-- (Pro 30:15). No remedy could be effectual against their corruptions since the very rulers sold justice for gifts [CALVIN]. MAURER translates, "The rulers are marvelously enamored of shame." English Version is better.
Adam Clarke on Hosea 4:18
Their drink is sour - Or rather, he is gone after their wine. The enticements of idolatry have carried them away.
Her rulers with shame do love - Rather, have loved shame; they glory in their abominations.
Give ye - Perhaps it would be better to read, Her rulers have committed, etc. They have loved gifts. What a shame! These were their rulers, literally, their shields. Justice and judgment were perverted.
John Gill on Hosea 4:18
Their drink is sour,.... In their stomachs, having drank so much that they cannot digest it; hence nauseous eructations, with a filthy stench, are belched out; so it is a charge of drunkenness which Ephraim or the ten tribes were addicted to, and are accused of, Isaiah 28:1 or "their drink is gone" (y); it has lost its colour, brightness, smell, and flavour; it is turned to vinegar; expressive of the general corruption and depravity of manners and religion among them; see Isaiah 1:22 or "their drink departeth", or "causeth to depart"; or "is refractory" (z); that is, it made them refractory, like a refractory belief, as before; caused them to depart from God and his worship, and led them int…
The Church Fathers
"he is separated from their congregation: they have committed fornication in their fornication; they loved to bring disgrace upon their protectors." LXX: "he has provoked the Canaanites, they have committed fornication, they have loved disgrace from his roar." They serve idols once, sacrificed to devils, fornicating every day, and loving their fornication. Indeed, its leaders and protectors, that is, the kings, took pleasure in bringing dishonor to the people, that is, in the vice of the princes. That which the Seventy translated ("Al." placed) as "provoked the Canaanites," is not found in Hebrew, but it can be thus interpreted, that we say only that Israel had such zeal for the worship of idols, that it did not imitate the Canaanites, that is, the heathen; but it provoked them to emulate its own error. And what is said, "He provoked the Canaanites," can be referred to heretics in the same sense, that most heretics have invented such abominations and filthy things, and have impure sacrifices, so that idolatry is inferior. Or certainly because "Cananaean" means "trader," or μετάβολος, that is, "translator," all those who make the Father's house a house of trade (John 2), and seek profits from the people, and transfer the truth of the Church into falsehood, are to be called Canaanites. For this is what is said: their gathering has been separated, they committed fornication once, and their leaders have deceived the unhappy people; and for the worship of God they have imbued them with the disgrace of idols.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Wine — The common Hebrew word for wine is yayin, from a root meaning “to boil up,” “to be in a ferment.” Others derive it from a root meaning “to tread out,” and hence the juice of the grape trodden out.…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hosea 4:18
18. Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
18. Putruit potus eorum; scortando scortati sunt: dilexerunt, Afferte, turpiter (vel, ignominiam qlvn) principes ejus.
The Prophet, using a metaphor, says here first, that their drink had become putrid; which means, that they had so intemperately given themselves up to every kind of wickedness, that all things among them had become fetid. And the Prophet alludes to shameful and beastly excess: for the drunken are so addicted to wine, that they emit a disgusting smell, and are never satisfied with drinking, until by spewing, they throw up the excessive draughts they have ta…
"Their drinking has degenerated; whoring they have committed whoredom; their shields have loved, loved shame. Hos 4:19. The wind has wrapt it up in its wings, so that they are put to shame because of their sacrifices." סר from סוּר, to fall off, degenerate, as in Jer 2:21. סבא is probably strong, intoxicating wine (cf. Isa 1:22; Nah 1:10); here it signifies the effect of this wine, viz., intoxication. Others take sâr in the usual sense of departing, after Sa1 1:14, and understand the sentence conditionally: "when their intoxication is gone, they commit whoredom." But Hitzig has very properly object to this, that it is intoxication which leads to licentiousness, and not temperance. Moreover,…
Beth-aven refers to the wickedness being practiced at Bethel, the most important worship center in the northern kingdom of Israel (see Amos 7:13; cp. Hos 5:8; 10:5).
Rashi on Hosea 4:18
Their drinking bouts have become strange Their drinking bouts have become estranged from Me. סָר is an expression of ‘foreign.’ Comp. (Jer. 2:21) “a degenerate wild vine (סוּרֵי הַגֶּפֶן נָכְרִיָּה),” i.e., removed from its place and changed to another.
סָבְאָם Their wine feast that was with the harlots.
love to invite disgrace Heb. הֵבוּ. They invited disgrace for themselves. הֵבוּ is an expression of preparation. Comp. (Gen. 11:4) “Get ready (הָבָה) and let us build,” “Get ready (הָבָה) and let us descend,” (Ex. 10: 1) “Get ready (הָבָה) and let us deal wisely.”
her rulers Heb. מָגִנֶּיהָ, her shields, her princes and her kings.
