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Selected Verse: Hosea 7:4 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ho 7:4	Strong Concordance	They are all adulterers [05003], as an oven [08574] heated [01197] by the baker [0644], who ceaseth [07673] from raising [05782] after he hath kneaded [03888] the dough [01217], until it be leavened [02556].
	King James	They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
who ceaseth from raising--rather, "heating" it, from an Arabic root, "to be hot." So the Septuagint. Their adulterous and idolatrous lust is inflamed as the oven of a baker who has it at such a heat that he ceaseth from heating it only from the time that he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened; he only needs to omit feeding it during the short period of the fermentation of the bread. Compare Pe2 2:14, "that cannot cease from sin" [HENDERSON].

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

who ceaseth from raising--rather, "heating" it, from an Arabic root, "to be hot." So the Septuagint. Their adulterous and idolatrous lust is inflamed as the oven of a baker who has it at such a heat that he ceaseth from heating it only from the time that he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened; he only needs to omit feeding it during the short period of the fermentation of the bread. Compare Pe2 2:14, "that cannot cease from sin" [HENDERSON].

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
They are all adulterers - The prophet continues to picture the corruption of all kinds and degrees of people. "All of them," king, princes, people; all were given to adultery, both spiritual, in departing from God, and actual, (for both sorts of sins went together,) in defiling themselves and others. "All of them" were, (so the word means,) habitual "adulterers." One only pause there was in their sin, the preparation to complete it. He likens their hearts, inflamed with lawless lusts, to the heat of "an oven" which "the baker" had already "heated." The unusual construction "burning from the baker" instead of "heated "by" the baker" may have been chosen, in order to express, how the fire continued to burn of itself, as it were, (although at first kindled by the baker,) and was ever-ready to burn whatever was brought to it, and even now was all red-hot, burning on continually; and Satan, who had stirred it, gave it just this respite, "from the time when he had kneaded the dough" , until the leaven, which he had put into it, had fully worked, and the whole was ready for the operation of the fire. The world is full of such people now, ever on fire, and pausing only from sin, until the flatteries, whereby they seduce the unstable, have worked and penetrated the whole mind, and victim after victim is gradually leavened and prepared for sin.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
To this there is added the passion with which the people make themselves slave to idolatry, and their rulers give themselves up to debauchery (Hos 7:4-7). Hos 7:4. "They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker, who leaves off stirring from the kneading of the dough until its leavening. Hos 7:5. In the day of our king the princes are made sick with the heat of wine: he has stretched out his hand with the scorners. Hos 7:6. For they have brought their heart into their ambush, as into the oven; the whole night their baker sleeps; in the morning it burns like flaming fire. Hos 7:7. They are all red-hot like the oven, and consume their judges: all their kings have fallen; none among them calls to me." "All" (kullâm: Hos 7:4) does not refer to the king and princes, but to the whole nation. נאף is spiritual adultery, apostasy from the Lord; and literal adultery is only so far to be thought of, that the worship of Baal promoted licentiousness. In this passionate career the nation resembles a furnace which a baker heats in the evening, and leaves burning all night while the dough is leavening, and then causes to turn with a still brighter flame in the morning, when the dough is ready for baking. בּערה מאפה, burning from the baker, i.e., heated by the baker. בּערה is accentuated as milel, either because the Masoretes took offence at תּנּוּר being construed as a feminine (Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 546; Ewald, Gramm. p. 449, note 1), or because tiphchah could not occupy any other place in the short space between zakeph and athnach (Hitzig). העיר, excitare, here in the sense of stirring. On the use of the participle in the place of the infinitive, with verbs of beginning and ending, see Ewald, 298, b. Hos 7:5-7 Both king and princes are addicted to debauchery (Hos 7:5). "The day of our king" is either the king's birthday, or the day when he ascended the throne, on either of which he probably gave a feast to his nobles. יום is taken most simply as an adverbial accus. loci. On this particular day the princes drink to such an extent, that they become ill with the heat of the wine. החלוּ, generally to make ill, here to make one's self ill. Hitzig follows the ancient versions, in deriving it from חלל, and taking it as equivalent to החלּוּ ot , "they begin," which gives a very insipid meaning. The difficult expression משׁך ידו את־ל, "he draws his hand with the scoffers," can hardly be understood in any other way than that suggested by Gesenius (Lex.), "the king goes about with scoffers," i.e., makes himself familiar with them, so that we may compare שׁוּת ידו עם (Exo 23:1). The scoffers are drunkards, just as in Pro 20:1 wine is directly called a scoffer. In Hos 7:6, Hos 7:7, the thought of the fourth verse is carried out still further. כּי introduces the explanation and ground of the simile of the furnace; for Hos 7:5 is subordinate to the main thought, and to be taken as a parenthetical remark. The words from כּי קרבוּ to בּארבּם ot כּי קרבוּ form one sentence. קרב is construed with ב loci, as in Jdg 19:13; Psa 91:10 : they have brought their heart near, brought them into their craftiness. "Like a furnace" (כּתנּוּר) contains an abridged simile. But it is not their heart itself which is here compared to a furnace (their heart = themselves), in the sense of "burning like a flaming furnace with base desires," as Gesenius supposes; for the idea of bringing a furnace into an 'ōrebh would be unsuitable and unintelligible. "The furnace is rather 'orbâm (their ambush), that which they have in common, that which keeps them together; whilst the fuel is libbâm, their own disposition" (Hitzig). Their baker is the machinator doli, who kindles the fire in them, i.e., in actual fact, not some person or other who instigates a conspiracy, but the passion of idolatry. This sleeps through the night, i.e., it only rests till the opportunity and time have arrived for carrying out the evil thoughts of their heart, or until the evil thoughts of the heart have become ripe for execution. This time is described in harmony with the figure, as the morning, in which the furnace burns up into bright flames (הוּא points to the more remote tannūr as the subject). In Hos 7:7 the figure is carried back to the literal fact. With the words, "they are all hot as a furnace," the expression in Hos 7:4, "adulterous like a furnace," is resumed; and now the fruit of this conduct is mentioned, viz., "they devour their judges, cast down their kings." By the judges we are not to understand the sârı̄m of Hos 7:5, who are mentioned along with the king as the supreme guardians of the law; but the kings themselves are intended, as the administrators of justice, as in Hos 13:10, where shōphetı̄m is also used as synonymous with מלך, and embraces both king and princes. The clause, "all their kings are fallen," adds no new feature to what precedes, and does not affirm that kings have also fallen in addition to or along with the judges; but it sums up what has been stated already, for the purpose of linking on the remark, that no one calls to the Lord concerning the fall of the kings. The suffix בּהם does not refer to the fallen kings, but to the nation in its entirety, i.e., to those who have devoured their judges. The thought is this: in the passion with which all are inflamed for idolatry, and with which the princes revel with the kings, they give no such heed to the inevitable consequences of their ungodly conduct, as that any one reflects upon the fall of the kings, or perceives that Israel has forsaken the way which leads to salvation, and is plunging headlong into the abyss of destruction, so as to return to the Lord, who alone can help and save. The prophet has here the times after Jeroboam II in his mind, when Zechariah was overthrown by Shallum, Shallum by Menahem, and Menahem the son of Pekahiah by Pekah, and that in the most rapid succession (Kg2 15:10, Kg2 15:14, Kg2 15:25), together with the eleven years' anarchy between Zechariah and Shallum (see at Kg2 15:8-12). At the same time, the expression, "all their kings have fallen," shows clearly, not only that the words are not to be limited to these events, but embrace all the earlier revolutions, but also and still more clearly, that there is no foundation whatever for the widespread historical interpretation of these verses, as relating to a conspiracy against the then reigning king Zechariah, or Shallum, or Pakahiah, according to which the baker is either Menahem (Hitzig) or Pekah (Schmidt).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

To this there is added the passion with which the people make themselves slave to idolatry, and their rulers give themselves up to debauchery (Hos 7:4-7). Hos 7:4. "They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker, who leaves off stirring from the kneading of the dough until its leavening. Hos 7:5. In the day of our king the princes are made sick with the heat of wine: he has stretched out his hand with the scorners. Hos 7:6. For they have brought their heart into their ambush, as into the oven; the whole night their baker sleeps; in the morning it burns like flaming fire. Hos 7:7. They are all red-hot like the oven, and consume their judges: all their kings have fallen; none among them calls to me." "All" (kullâm: Hos 7:4) does not refer to the king and princes, but to the whole nation. נאף is spiritual adultery, apostasy from the Lord; and literal adultery is only so far to be thought of, that the worship of Baal promoted licentiousness. In this passionate career the nation resembles a furnace which a baker heats in the evening, and leaves burning all night while the dough is leavening, and then causes to turn with a still brighter flame in the morning, when the dough is ready for baking. בּערה מאפה, burning from the baker, i.e., heated by the baker. בּערה is accentuated as milel, either because the Masoretes took offence at תּנּוּר being construed as a feminine (Ges. Lehrgeb. p. 546; Ewald, Gramm. p. 449, note 1), or because tiphchah could not occupy any other place in the short space between zakeph and athnach (Hitzig). העיר, excitare, here in the sense of stirring. On the use of the participle in the place of the infinitive, with verbs of beginning and ending, see Ewald, 298, b.

Hos 7:5-7

Both king and princes are addicted to debauchery (Hos 7:5). "The day of our king" is either the king's birthday, or the day when he ascended the throne, on either of which he probably gave a feast to his nobles. יום is taken most simply as an adverbial accus. loci. On this particular day the princes drink to such an extent, that they become ill with the heat of the wine. החלוּ, generally to make ill, here to make one's self ill. Hitzig follows the ancient versions, in deriving it from חלל, and taking it as equivalent to החלּוּ ot , "they begin," which gives a very insipid meaning. The difficult expression משׁך ידו את־ל, "he draws his hand with the scoffers," can hardly be understood in any other way than that suggested by Gesenius (Lex.), "the king goes about with scoffers," i.e., makes himself familiar with them, so that we may compare שׁוּת ידו עם (Exo 23:1). The scoffers are drunkards, just as in Pro 20:1 wine is directly called a scoffer. In Hos 7:6, Hos 7:7, the thought of the fourth verse is carried out still further. כּי introduces the explanation and ground of the simile of the furnace; for Hos 7:5 is subordinate to the main thought, and to be taken as a parenthetical remark. The words from כּי קרבוּ to בּארבּם ot כּי קרבוּ form one sentence. קרב is construed with ב loci, as in Jdg 19:13; Psa 91:10 : they have brought their heart near, brought them into their craftiness. "Like a furnace" (כּתנּוּר) contains an abridged simile. But it is not their heart itself which is here compared to a furnace (their heart = themselves), in the sense of "burning like a flaming furnace with base desires," as Gesenius supposes; for the idea of bringing a furnace into an 'ōrebh would be unsuitable and unintelligible. "The furnace is rather 'orbâm (their ambush), that which they have in common, that which keeps them together; whilst the fuel is libbâm, their own disposition" (Hitzig). Their baker is the machinator doli, who kindles the fire in them, i.e., in actual fact, not some person or other who instigates a conspiracy, but the passion of idolatry. This sleeps through the night, i.e., it only rests till the opportunity and time have arrived for carrying out the evil thoughts of their heart, or until the evil thoughts of the heart have become ripe for execution. This time is described in harmony with the figure, as the morning, in which the furnace burns up into bright flames (הוּא points to the more remote tannūr as the subject). In Hos 7:7 the figure is carried back to the literal fact. With the words, "they are all hot as a furnace," the expression in Hos 7:4, "adulterous like a furnace," is resumed; and now the fruit of this conduct is mentioned, viz., "they devour their judges, cast down their kings." By the judges we are not to understand the sârı̄m of Hos 7:5, who are mentioned along with the king as the supreme guardians of the law; but the kings themselves are intended, as the administrators of justice, as in Hos 13:10, where shōphetı̄m is also used as synonymous with מלך, and embraces both king and princes. The clause, "all their kings are fallen," adds no new feature to what precedes, and does not affirm that kings have also fallen in addition to or along with the judges; but it sums up what has been stated already, for the purpose of linking on the remark, that no one calls to the Lord concerning the fall of the kings. The suffix בּהם does not refer to the fallen kings, but to the nation in its entirety, i.e., to those who have devoured their judges. The thought is this: in the passion with which all are inflamed for idolatry, and with which the princes revel with the kings, they give no such heed to the inevitable consequences of their ungodly conduct, as that any one reflects upon the fall of the kings, or perceives that Israel has forsaken the way which leads to salvation, and is plunging headlong into the abyss of destruction, so as to return to the Lord, who alone can help and save. The prophet has here the times after Jeroboam II in his mind, when Zechariah was overthrown by Shallum, Shallum by Menahem, and Menahem the son of Pekahiah by Pekah, and that in the most rapid succession (Kg2 15:10, Kg2 15:14, Kg2 15:25), together with the eleven years' anarchy between Zechariah and Shallum (see at Kg2 15:8-12). At the same time, the expression, "all their kings have fallen," shows clearly, not only that the words are not to be limited to these events, but embrace all the earlier revolutions, but also and still more clearly, that there is no foundation whatever for the widespread historical interpretation of these verses, as relating to a conspiracy against the then reigning king Zechariah, or Shallum, or Pakahiah, according to which the baker is either Menahem (Hitzig) or Pekah (Schmidt).

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
As an oven - This vice is grown raging hot among them, as the fire in an oven, when the baker having called up those that make the bread, to prepare all things ready, doth by continued supply of fuel, heat the oven, 'till the heat need be raised no higher.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
As an oven heated by the baker - Calmet's paraphrase on this and the following verses expresses pretty nearly the sense: Hosea makes a twofold comparison of the Israelites; to an oven, and to dough. Jeroboam set fire to his own oven - his kingdom - and put the leaven in his dough; and afterwards went to rest, that the fire might have time to heat his oven, and the leaven to raise his dough, that the false principles which he introduced might infect the whole population. This prince, purposing to make his subjects relinquish their ancient religion, put, in a certain sense, the fire to his own oven, and mixed his dough with leaven. At first he used no violence, but was satisfied with exhorting them, and proclaiming a feast. This fire spread very rapidly, and the dough was very soon impregnated by the leaven. All Israel was seen running to this feast, and partaking in these innovations. But what shall become of the oven - the kingdom; and the bread - the people? The oven shall be consumed by these flames; the king, the princes, and the people shall be enveloped in the burning, Hos 7:7. Israel was put under the ashes, as a loaf well kneaded and leavened; but not being carefully turned, it was burnt on one side before those who prepared it could eat of it; and enemies and strangers came and carried off the loaf. See Hos 7:8, Hos 7:9. Their lasting captivity was the consequence of their wickedness and their apostasy from the religion of their fathers. On this explication Hos 7:4-9, may be easily understood.

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¹⁴ Having [2192] eyes [3788] full [3324] of adultery [3428], and [2532] that cannot cease from [180] sin [266]; beguiling [1185] unstable [793] souls [5590]: an heart [2588] they have [2192] exercised [1128] with covetous practices [4124]; cursed [2671] children [5043]:

⁸ In the thirty [07970] [08141] and eighth [08083] year [08141] of Azariah [05838] king [04428] of Judah [03063] did Zachariah [02148] the son [01121] of Jeroboam [03379] reign [04427] over Israel [03478] in Samaria [08111] six [08337] months [02320].
⁹ And he did [06213] that which was evil [07451] in the sight [05869] of the LORD [03068], as his fathers [01] had done [06213]: he departed [05493] not from the sins [02403] of Jeroboam [03379] the son [01121] of Nebat [05028], who made Israel [03478] to sin [02398].
¹⁰ And Shallum [07967] the son [01121] of Jabesh [03003] conspired [07194] against him, and smote [05221] him before [06905] the people [05971], and slew [04191] him, and reigned [04427] in his stead.
¹¹ And the rest [03499] of the acts [01697] of Zachariah [02148], behold, they are written [03789] in the book [05612] of the chronicles [01697] [03117] of the kings [04428] of Israel [03478].
¹² This was the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] which he spake [01696] unto Jehu [03058], saying [0559], Thy sons [01121] shall sit [03427] on the throne [03678] of Israel [03478] unto the fourth [07243] generation. And so it came to pass.

²⁵ But Pekah [06492] the son [01121] of Remaliah [07425], a captain [07991] of his, conspired [07194] against him, and smote [05221] him in Samaria [08111], in the palace [0759] of the king's [04428] house [01004], with Argob [0709] and Arieh [0745], and with him fifty [02572] men [0376] of the Gileadites [01121] [01569]: and he killed [04191] him, and reigned [04427] in his room.

¹⁴ For Menahem [04505] the son [01121] of Gadi [01424] went up [05927] from Tirzah [08656], and came [0935] to Samaria [08111], and smote [05221] Shallum [07967] the son [01121] of Jabesh [03003] in Samaria [08111], and slew [04191] him, and reigned [04427] in his stead.

¹⁰ And Shallum [07967] the son [01121] of Jabesh [03003] conspired [07194] against him, and smote [05221] him before [06905] the people [05971], and slew [04191] him, and reigned [04427] in his stead.

¹⁰ I will [0165] be thy king [04428]: where [0645] is any other that may save [03467] thee in all thy cities [05892]? and thy judges [08199] of whom thou saidst [0559], Give [05414] me a king [04428] and princes [08269]?

⁵ In the day [03117] of our king [04428] the princes [08269] have made him sick [02470] with bottles [02534] of wine [03196]; he stretched out [04900] his hand [03027] with scorners [03945].

⁷ They are all hot [02552] as an oven [08574], and have devoured [0398] their judges [08199]; all their kings [04428] are fallen [05307]: there is none among them that calleth [07121] unto me.

¹⁰ There shall no evil [07451] befall [0579] thee, neither shall any plague [05061] come nigh [07126] thy dwelling [0168].

¹³ And he said [0559] unto his servant [05288], Come [03212], and let us draw near [07126] to one [0259] of these places [04725] to lodge all night [03885], in Gibeah [01390], or in Ramah [07414].

⁵ In the day [03117] of our king [04428] the princes [08269] have made him sick [02470] with bottles [02534] of wine [03196]; he stretched out [04900] his hand [03027] with scorners [03945].

⁷ They are all hot [02552] as an oven [08574], and have devoured [0398] their judges [08199]; all their kings [04428] are fallen [05307]: there is none among them that calleth [07121] unto me.

⁶ For they have made ready [07126] their heart [03820] like an oven [08574], whiles they lie in wait [0693]: their baker [0644] sleepeth [03463] all the night [03915]; in the morning [01242] it burneth [01197] as a flaming [03852] fire [0784].

¹ Wine [03196] is a mocker [03887], strong drink [07941] is raging [01993]: and whosoever is deceived [07686] thereby is not wise [02449].

¹ Thou shalt not raise [05375] a false [07723] report [08088]: put [07896] not thine hand [03027] with the wicked [07563] to be an unrighteous [02555] witness [05707].

⁵ In the day [03117] of our king [04428] the princes [08269] have made him sick [02470] with bottles [02534] of wine [03196]; he stretched out [04900] his hand [03027] with scorners [03945].

⁵ In the day [03117] of our king [04428] the princes [08269] have made him sick [02470] with bottles [02534] of wine [03196]; he stretched out [04900] his hand [03027] with scorners [03945].
⁶ For they have made ready [07126] their heart [03820] like an oven [08574], whiles they lie in wait [0693]: their baker [0644] sleepeth [03463] all the night [03915]; in the morning [01242] it burneth [01197] as a flaming [03852] fire [0784].
⁷ They are all hot [02552] as an oven [08574], and have devoured [0398] their judges [08199]; all their kings [04428] are fallen [05307]: there is none among them that calleth [07121] unto me.

⁷ They are all hot [02552] as an oven [08574], and have devoured [0398] their judges [08199]; all their kings [04428] are fallen [05307]: there is none among them that calleth [07121] unto me.

⁵ In the day [03117] of our king [04428] the princes [08269] have made him sick [02470] with bottles [02534] of wine [03196]; he stretched out [04900] his hand [03027] with scorners [03945].

⁴ They are all adulterers [05003], as an oven [08574] heated [01197] by the baker [0644], who ceaseth [07673] from raising [05782] after he hath kneaded [03888] the dough [01217], until it be leavened [02556].
⁵ In the day [03117] of our king [04428] the princes [08269] have made him sick [02470] with bottles [02534] of wine [03196]; he stretched out [04900] his hand [03027] with scorners [03945].
⁶ For they have made ready [07126] their heart [03820] like an oven [08574], whiles they lie in wait [0693]: their baker [0644] sleepeth [03463] all the night [03915]; in the morning [01242] it burneth [01197] as a flaming [03852] fire [0784].
⁷ They are all hot [02552] as an oven [08574], and have devoured [0398] their judges [08199]; all their kings [04428] are fallen [05307]: there is none among them that calleth [07121] unto me.

⁹ Strangers [02114] have devoured [0398] his strength [03581], and he knoweth [03045] it not: yea, gray hairs [07872] are here and there [02236] upon him, yet he knoweth [03045] not.

⁸ Ephraim [0669], he hath mixed [01101] himself among the people [05971]; Ephraim [0669] is a cake [05692] not turned [02015].

⁷ They are all hot [02552] as an oven [08574], and have devoured [0398] their judges [08199]; all their kings [04428] are fallen [05307]: there is none among them that calleth [07121] unto me.