Hosea 5:4
New International Version
“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the LORD.

New Living Translation
Your deeds won’t let you return to your God. You are a prostitute through and through, and you do not know the LORD.

English Standard Version
Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible
Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

King James Bible
They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

New King James Version
“They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the LORD.

New American Standard Bible
Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of infidelity is within them, And they do not know the LORD.

NASB 1995
Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know the LORD.

NASB 1977
Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know the LORD.

Legacy Standard Bible
Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know Yahweh.

Amplified Bible
Their [immoral] practices will not permit them To return to their God, For the spirit of prostitution is within them And they do not know the LORD [they do not recognize, appreciate, heed or cherish Him].

Christian Standard Bible
Their actions do not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of promiscuity is among them, and they do not know the LORD.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Their actions do not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of promiscuity is among them, and they do not know the LORD.

American Standard Version
Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not Jehovah.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Their devices do not let them turn to their God because of the spirit of fornication within them, and they have not known LORD JEHOVAH

Brenton Septuagint Translation
They have not framed their counsels to return to their God, for the spirit of fornication is in them, and they have not known the Lord.

Contemporary English Version
Your evil deeds are the reason you won't return to me, your LORD God. And your constant craving for sex keeps you from knowing me.

Douay-Rheims Bible
They will not set their thoughts to return to their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.

English Revised Version
Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"The wicked things that the people have done keep them from returning to their God. They have a spirit of prostitution, and they don't know the LORD.

Good News Translation
The evil that the people have done keeps them from returning to their God. Idolatry has a powerful hold on them, and they do not acknowledge the LORD.

International Standard Version
"Their actions hinder them from turning to their God, because a spirit of fornication is in their midst, and the LORD they do not know.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Their doings will not suffer them To return unto their God; For the spirit of harlotry is within them, And they know not the LORD.

Literal Standard Version
They do not give up their habitual doings, | To turn back to their God, | For a spirit of whoredoms [is] in their midst, | And YHWH they have not known.

Majority Standard Bible
Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

New American Bible
Their deeds do not allow them to return to their God; For the spirit of prostitution is in them, and they do not know the LORD.

NET Bible
Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; because a spirit of idolatry controls their heart, and they do not acknowledge the LORD.

New Revised Standard Version
Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

New Heart English Bible
Their deeds won't allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

Webster's Bible Translation
They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of lewdness is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

World English Bible
Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their God, for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don’t know Yahweh.

Young's Literal Translation
They give not up their habitual doings, To turn back unto their God, For a spirit of whoredoms is in their midst, And Jehovah they have not known.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Judgment on Israel and Judah
3I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled. 4Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD. 5Israel’s arrogance testifies against them; Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; even Judah stumbles with them.…

Cross References
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

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.

Hosea 4:14
I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

Hosea 7:11
So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove--calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

Hosea 13:13
Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.


Treasury of Scripture

They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of prostitutions is in the middle of them, and they have not known the LORD.

They will not frame their doings.

Psalm 36:1-4
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes…

Psalm 78:8
And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

John 3:19,20
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil…

for.

Hosea 4:12
My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

Jeremiah 50:38
A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

and.

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.

1 Samuel 2:12
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

Psalm 9:10
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

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Acknowledge Allow Deeds Doings False. Frame Habitual Harlotry Heart Lewdness Midst Permit Prostitution Spirit Suffer Turn Whoredom Whoredoms Within Won't Works
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Hosea 5
1. The judgments of God are denounced against the priests, people, and princes,
9. both of Israel and Judah, for their manifold sins.
15. An intimation is given of mercy on their repentance.














(4) The margin, "Their deeds will not suffer (them)," requires the introduction of the word "them," not in the Hebrew. It is favoured by the Jewish commentators, Schmoller, and others, but it is better to render, with the Authorised version, They frame not their doings, &c. The knowledge of the only true God is life.

Verse 4. - In this verse their evil doings are traced to an evil spirit of whoredoms that is, of idolatries, which impels them blindly and resistlessly to evil, while at the same time it expels the knowledge of God. The first clause is differently rendered. The textual rendering of the Authorized Version, viz. they will not frame (literally, give, direct) their doings to turn unto their God, denotes their total and absolute refusal to repent or to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. The actions are an index of the state of the heart, but neither the thoughts of Israel at this time, nor their deeds which indicated these thoughts, were in the direction of repentance. In heart and life they were impenitent. This rendering is supported by most of the Hebrew commentators. Rashi says, "They forsake not their evil way;" Aben Ezra," They perform not works so as to turn." Kimchi also gives an alternative sense: "Or the sense of the words is thus: They cling so closely to their evil works, that even should they for once conceive in their heart the idea of turning, they immediately repent them of it." The marginal rendering also yields a good sense; it is, Their doings will not suffer (allow) [them] to turn unto their God. The pronominal suffix for "them" is wanting, yet it may be dispensed with, as the appending of it to "doings" and "God" makes the sense sufficiently explicit. It is favored by Ewald, Keil, the Targum, and Kimchi, who explains: "Their evil works do not allow them to return to their God, as if he said, To such extent have they multiplied transgression that there is no way left them to return, until they receive their punishment." Such and so great was the power of their evil habits that they could not break them off or break away from them by repentance; or so intimately connected is a change of heart with a change of life that, in the absence of the latter, the former is impossible. According to either rendering, the reason assigned is contained in the next clause: For the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. So overmastered were they, as though by some fiendish spirit that held them in check and exercised despotic power over them, that they rushed headlong down the steep incline, like the Gadarene herd of swine, which, when the unclean spirits entered into them, ran violently down a steep place into the sea. Neither was there any counteracting force to turn them back or reverse their course. Such a force might have been found in the knowledge of God, of his covenant mercy, of his power, love, grace, and goodrich. But this was wanting, and the absence of this knowledge at once increased their impenitence and aggravated their guilt. It was Israel's privilege and Israel's duty to know the Lord; for he had revealed himself to them as to no other nation; he had given them his Law, he had made them depositaries of his truth and the conservators of his living oracles; their ignorance, therefore, was altogether inexcusable, while it evinced greatest ingratitude to Jehovah, who had taken them into covenant with himself, and declared himself to be their God.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Their deeds
מַ֣עַלְלֵיהֶ֔ם (ma·‘al·lê·hem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 4611: A deed, practice

do not
לֹ֤א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

permit them
יִתְּנוּ֙ (yit·tə·nū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

to return
לָשׁ֖וּב (lā·šūḇ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 7725: To turn back, in, to retreat, again

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

their God,
אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֑ם (’ĕ·lō·hê·hem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

for
כִּ֣י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

a spirit
ר֤וּחַ (rū·aḥ)
Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 7307: Wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit

of prostitution
זְנוּנִים֙ (zə·nū·nîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2183: Adultery, idolatry

is within them,
בְּקִרְבָּ֔ם (bə·qir·bām)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 7130: The nearest part, the center

and they do not
לֹ֥א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

know
יָדָֽעוּ׃ (yā·ḏā·‘ū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3045: To know

the LORD.
יְהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel


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OT Prophets: Hosea 5:4 Their deeds won't allow them to turn (Ho Hs Hos.)
Hosea 5:3
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