Hosea 10:4 (YLT)

Passage

They have spoken words, To swear falsehood in making a covenant, And flourished as a poisonous herb hath judgment, on the furrows of a field.

Nearby Context

Hosea 10:2 Their heart hath been divided, now they are guilty, He doth break down their altars, He doth destroy their standing-pillars.

Hosea 10:3 For now they say: We have no king, Because we have not feared Jehovah, And the king--what doth he for us?

Hosea 10:4 They have spoken words, To swear falsehood in making a covenant, And flourished as a poisonous herb hath judgment, on the furrows of a field.

Hosea 10:5 For the calves of Beth-Aven fear do inhabitants of Samaria, Surely mourned on account of it hath its people, And its priests on account of it leap about, Because of its honour, for it hath removed from it,

Hosea 10:6 Also it to Asshur is carried, a present to a warlike king, Shame doth Ephraim receive, And ashamed is Israel of its own counsel.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "spoken", "words", "swear", "falsehood", "making", "covenant", "flourished", and "poisonous". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "spoken" and "words", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "For now they say We have no..." into verse 5's "For the calves of Beth-Aven fear do...", so "spoken" and "words" belong inside that flow. In Hosea context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "spoken" and "words" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.