Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, August 6th, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Hosea 4:9

The priests are as wrong as the people, and I will punish them both for what they have done. I will repay them for the wrong they have done.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   Example;   Influence;   Judgment;   Minister, Christian;   Proverbs;   Sin;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Punishment of the Wicked, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Hosea;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Baal;   Prostitution;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Hosea;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Priests and Levites;   Sin;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Didascalia;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The same judgment will happento both people and priests.I will punish them for their waysand repay them for their deeds.
Hebrew Names Version
It will be, like people, like Kohen; And I will punish them for their ways, And will repay them for their deeds.
King James Version
And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
English Standard Version
And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
New American Standard Bible
And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.
Amplified Bible
And it shall be: like people, like priest [both are wicked and both will be judged]; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And there shalbe like people, like Priest: for I wil visite their wayes vpon them, and reward them their deedes.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.
Legacy Standard Bible
And it will be like people, like priest;So I will punish them for their waysAnd cause their deeds to return to them.
Berean Standard Bible
And it shall be like people, like priest. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
Contemporary English Version
That's why I will punish the people for their deeds, just as I will punish you priests.
Complete Jewish Bible
But the cohen will fare no better than the people; I will punish him for his ways and pay him back for his deeds.
Darby Translation
And it shall be as the people so the priest; and I will visit their ways upon them, and recompense to them their doings;
Easy-to-Read Version
So the priests are no different from the people. I will punish them for the things they did. I will pay them back for the wrong things they did.
George Lamsa Translation
The priest has become common like the people; and I will punish them for their ways and reward them for their deeds.
Good News Translation
You will suffer the same punishment as the people! I will punish you and make you pay for the evil you do.
Lexham English Bible
And it will be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and I will requite them for their deeds.
Literal Translation
And it will be, Like people, like priest. And I will visit their ways on them and repay them for their deeds.
American Standard Version
And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings.
Bible in Basic English
And the priest will be like the people; I will give them punishment for their evil ways, and the reward of their acts.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it is like people, like priest; and I will punish him for his ways, and will recompense him his doings.
King James Version (1611)
And there shall be like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their wayes, and reward them their doings.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thus the priest is become lyke the people: Wherfore I wyll punishe them for their wicked wayes, and rewarde them according to their owne imaginations.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the priest shall be as the people: and I will avenge on them their ways, and I will recompense to them their counsels.
English Revised Version
And it shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and will reward them their doings.
World English Bible
It will be, like people, like priest; And I will punish them for their ways, And will repay them for their deeds.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And it schal be, as the puple so the prest; and Y schal visite on hym the weies of hym, and Y schal yelde to him the thouytis of hym.
Update Bible Version
And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings.
Webster's Bible Translation
And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
New English Translation
I will deal with the people and priests together: I will punish them both for their ways, and I will repay them for their deeds.
New King James Version
And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
New Living Translation
‘And what the priests do, the people also do.' So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds.
New Life Bible
The religious leaders will be punished the same as the people. I will punish them for what they have done.
New Revised Standard
And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and repay them for their deeds.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So doth it come to be - like people, like priest, - therefore will I visit upon him his ways, and, his doings, will I bring back to him;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices.
Revised Standard Version
And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and requite them for their deeds.
Young's Literal Translation
And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus the prest is become like the people. Wherfore I will punysh them for their wicked wayes, & rewarde them acordinge to their owne ymaginacions.

Contextual Overview

6 My people will be destroyed, because they have no knowledge. You have refused to learn, so I will refuse to let you be priests to me. You have forgotten the teachings of your God, so I will forget your children. 7 The more priests there are, the more they sin against me. I will take away their honor and give them shame. 8 Since the priests live off the sin offerings of the people, they want the people to sin more and more. 9 The priests are as wrong as the people, and I will punish them both for what they have done. I will repay them for the wrong they have done. 10 "They will eat but not have enough; they will have sexual relations with the prostitutes, but they will not have children, because they have left the Lord to give themselves to 11 prostitution, to old and new wine, which take away their ability to understand.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

like people: Isaiah 9:14-16, Isaiah 24:2, Jeremiah 5:31, Jeremiah 8:10-12, Jeremiah 23:11, Jeremiah 23:12, Ezekiel 22:26-31, Matthew 15:14

punish: Heb. visit upon, Hosea 1:4, *marg.

reward them: Heb. cause to return, Psalms 109:17, Psalms 109:18, Proverbs 5:22, Isaiah 3:10, Zechariah 1:6

Reciprocal: Judges 18:4 - hired me 1 Samuel 2:22 - did unto 1 Kings 2:44 - return Acts 23:14 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 4:4
Abel brought the best parts from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift,
Genesis 4:9
Later, the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" Cain answered, "I don't know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?"
Genesis 4:11
And now you will be cursed in your work with the ground, the same ground where your brother's blood fell and where your hands killed him.
Genesis 4:13
Then Cain said to the Lord , "This punishment is more than I can stand!
Genesis 4:14
Today you have forced me to stop working the ground, and now I must hide from you. I must wander around on the earth, and anyone who meets me can kill me."
Genesis 37:32
Then they brought the long-sleeved robe to their father and said, "We found this robe. Look it over carefully and see if it is your son's robe."
Psalms 9:12
He remembers who the murderers are; he will not forget the cries of those who suffer.
Proverbs 28:13
If you hide your sins, you will not succeed. If you confess and reject them, you will receive mercy.
John 8:44
You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning and was against the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he shows what he is really like, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And there shall be, like people, like priest,.... No difference between them in their festivals, the one being as greedy of committing intemperance and uncleanness as the other, and in their common conversation of life; though the priests ought both to have given good instructions, and to have set good examples; but instead of that were equally guilty as the people, and so would be alike in their punishment, as it follows:

and I will punish them for their ways; their evil ways, as the Targum; their wicked manner of life and conversation, both of the people and the priests; especially the latter are meant: or, "I will visit upon him his ways" w; upon everyone of the priests, as well as the people; which visit must be understood in a way of wrath and vengeance:

and reward them their doings; reward them according to their doings, as their sins deserve, and as it is explained in the next verse: or, "I will return their doings to them" x; bring them back again, when they seemed to be past and gone, and set them before them, and charge them with them, and punish for them.

w ופקדתי עליו דרכיו "et visitabo super eum vias ejus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt. x ומעלליו אשיב לו "et opera ejus redire faciam", Zanchius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And there shall be like people, like priest - Priest and people were alike in sin. Yea they are wont, if bad, to foment each other’s sin. The bad priest copies the sins which he should reprove, and excuses himself by the frailty of our common nature. The people, acutely enough, detect the worldliness or self-indulgence of the priest, and shelter themselves under his example. Their defense stands good before people; but what before God? Alike in sin, priest and people should be alike in punishment. “Neither secular greatness should exempt the laity, nor the dignity of his order, the priest.” Both shall be swept away in one common heap, in one disgrace, into one damnation. “They shall bind them in bundles to burn them.”

And I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings - Literally, “I will visit upon him his ways, and his doings I will make to return to him.” People and priests are spoken of as one man. None should escape. The judgment comes down “upon” them, overwhelming them. Man’s deeds are called his “ways,” because the soul holds on the tenor of its life along them, and those ways lead him on to his last end, heaven or hell. The word rendered “doings ” signifies “great doings,” when used of God; “bold doings,” on the part of man. Those bold presumptuous doings against the law and will of God, God will bring back to the sinner’s bosom.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hosea 4:9. Like people, like priest

"The priest a wanderer from the narrow way;

The silly sheep, no wonder that they stray."


I will punish them — Both priest and people; both equally bad.


 
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