Hosea 4 · Verse 2

Hosea 4:2

By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

Hosea 4:2, King James Version

Hosea 4:2 in other translations

BSB	Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.
WEB	There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
ASV	There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
YLT	Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery--have increased, And blood against blood hath touched.
DARBY	Swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, — they break out; and blood toucheth blood.
BBE	There is cursing and broken faith, violent death and attacks on property, men are untrue in married life, houses are broken into, and there is blood touching blood.
Webster	By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

What does Hosea 4:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

2. they break out--bursting through every restraint. blood toucheth blood--literally, "bloods." One act of bloodshed follows another without any interval between (see 2Ki 15:8-16, 25; Mi 7:2).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 By swearing, and lying - Where there is no truth there will be lies and perjury; for false swearing is brought in to confirm lying statements. And when there is no mercy, killing, slaying, and murders, will be frequent. And where there is no knowledge of God, no conviction of his omnipresence and omniscience, private offenses, such as stealing, adulteries, etc., will prevail. These, sooner or later, break out, become a flood, and carry all before them. Private stealing will assume the form of a public robbery, and adulteries become fashionable, especially among the higher orders; and suits of crim. con. render them more public, scandalous, and corrupting. By the examination of witnesses, and reading of infamous letters in a court of justice, people are taught the wiles and stratagems to be used to accomplish these ends, and prevent detection; and also how to avoid those circumstances which have led to the detection of others. Every report of such matters is an experimental lecture on successful debauchery. Blood toucheth blood - Murders are not only frequent, but assassinations are mutual. Men go out to kill each other; as in our duels, the frenzy of cowards; and as there is no law regarded, and no justice in the land, the nearest akin slays the murderer. Even in our land, where duels are so frequent, if a man kill his antagonist, it is murder; and so generally brought in by an honest coroner and his jury. It is then brought into court; but who is hanged for it? The very murder is considered as an affair of honor, though it began in a dispute about a prostitute; and it is directed to be brought in manslaughter; and the murderer is slightly fined for having hurried his neighbor, perhaps once his friend, into the eternal world, with all his imperfections on his head! No wonder that a land mourns where these prevail; and that God should have a controversy with it. Such crimes as these are sufficient to bring God's curse upon any land. And how does God show his displeasure? See the following verse.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Hosea 4:1-5

God's judgments against the sins of the people. (Hos. 4:1-5) and of the priests. (Hos. 4:6-11) Idolatry is reproved, and Judah is admonished. (Hos. 4:12-19) Verses 1-5 Hosea reproves for immorality, as well as idolatry. There was no truth, mercy, or knowledge of God in the land: it was full of murders, II Kin. 21:16. Therefore calamities were near, which would desolate the country. Our sins, as separate persons, as…

Read the full comment on Hosea 4:1-5 →

Hosea 4:2 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אָלֹ֣ה'a.LohcursingH422

וְכַחֵ֔שׁve.kha.Cheshand deceivingH3584

וְרָצֹ֥חַve.ra.Tzo.achand murderingH7523

וְגָנֹ֖בve.ga.Noand stealingH1589

וְנָאֹ֑ףve.na.'Ofand committing adulteryH5003

פָּרָ֕צוּpa.Ra.tzupeople have broken outH6555

וְדָמִ֥יםve.da.Mimand blood<s>H1818

בְּדָמִ֖יםbe.da.Mim<in> blood<s>H1818

נָגָֽעוּ\׃na.Ga.'uthey have touchedH5060

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Hosea 4:2

Hosea 6:9
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
Micah 7:2
The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
Jeremiah 6:7
As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.
1 Thessalonians 2:15
Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
Jeremiah 7:6-10
If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; …
Jeremiah 5:7-9
How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Hosea 7:1
When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without.
Jeremiah 5:26-27
For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
Hosea 7:3
They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
Jeremiah 9:2-8
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. …
Ezekiel 22:2-13
Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations. Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord God, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries. Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed. …
Micah 6:10
Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

swearing.
Isa 24:5; 48:1; 59:2-8,12-15; Jer 5:1,2,7-9,26,27; 6:7; 7:6-10
Jer 9:2-8; 23:10-14; Eze 22:2-13,25-30; Mic 2:1-3; 3:2,9; 6:10; 7:2
Zep 3:1; Zec 5:3; 7:9
blood. Heb. bloods. toucheth.
5:2; 6:9; La 4:13; Mt 23:35; Ac 7:52; 1Th 2:15; Re 17:6

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Hosea 4:1
Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
Hosea 4:2
By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
Hosea 4:3
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

Read all of Hosea 4

Hosea 4:2 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Perjurar, y mentir, y matar, y hurtar y adulterar prevalecieron, y sangres se tocaron con sangres.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	exécration, et mensonge, et meurtre, et vol, et adultère; la violence déborde, et le sang touche le sang.
German Elberfelder 1871	Schwören und Lügen, und Morden und Stehlen, und Ehebruchtreiben; sie brechen ein, und Blutschuld reiht sich an Blutschuld.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Maledictum, et mendacium, et homicidium, et furtum, et adulterium inundaverunt, et sanguis sanguinem tetigit.