Hosea 6:9
◄  Hosea 6:9  ►
New International Version (©2011)
As marauders lie in ambush for a victim, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, carrying out their wicked schemes.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Priests form bands of robbers, waiting in ambush for their victims. They murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin.

English Standard Version (©2001)
As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
And as raiders wait for a man, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Surely they have committed crime.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone, a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem. They commit atrocities.

International Standard Version (©2012)
Like a gang of thieves that stalk a man, priests commit murder along the road to Shechem, committing shameful crimes.

NET Bible (©2006)
The company of priests is like a gang of robbers, lying in ambush to pounce on a victim. They commit murder on the road to Shechem; they have done heinous crimes!

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The priests are like gangs of robbers who lie in ambush for a person. They murder on the road to Shechem. Certainly, they have committed a crime.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And as bands of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

American King James Version
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

American Standard Version
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yea, they have committed lewdness.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the priests who murder in the way those that pass out Sichem: for they have wrought wickedness.

Darby Bible Translation
And as troops of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way of Shechem; yea, they commit lewdness.

English Revised Version
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yea, they have committed lewdness.

Webster's Bible Translation
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

World English Bible
As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem, committing shameful crimes.

Young's Literal Translation
And as bands do wait for a man, A company of priests do murder -- the way to Shechem, For wickedness they have done.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:4-11 Sometimes Israel and Judah seemed disposed to repent under their sufferings, but their goodness vanished like the empty morning cloud, and the early dew, and they were as vile as ever. Therefore the Lord sent awful messages by the prophets. The word of God will be the death either of the sin or of the sinner. God desired mercy rather than sacrifice, and that knowledge of him which produces holy fear and love. This exposes the folly of those who trust in outward observances, to make up for their want of love to God and man. As Adam broke the covenant of God in paradise, so Israel had broken his national covenant, notwithstanding all the favours they received. Judah also was ripe for Divine judgments. May the Lord put his fear into our hearts, and set up his kingdom within us, and never leave us to ourselves, nor suffer us to be overcome by temptation.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And as troops of robbers wait for a man,.... As a gang of highwaymen or footpads lie in wait in a ditch, or under a hedge, or in a cave of a rock or mountain, for a man they know will come by that way, who is full of money, in order to rob him; or, as Saadiah interprets it, as fishermen stand upon the banks of a river, and cast in their hooks to draw out the fish; and to the same purpose is Jarchi's note from R. Meir:

so the company of priests murder in the way by consent; not only encourage murderers, and commit murders within the city, but go out in a body together upon the highway, and there commit murders and robberies, and divide the spoil among them; all which they did unanimously, and were well agreed, being brethren in iniquity, as well as in office: or, "in the way of Shechem" (e); as good people passed by Gilead to Shechem, and so to Jerusalem, to worship there at the solemn feasts, they lay in wait for them, and murdered them; because they did not give into the idolatrous worship of the calves at Dan and Bethel: or, "in the manner of Shechem" (f); that is, they murdered men in a deceitful treacherous manner, as the Shechemites were murdered by Simeon and Levi: Joseph Kimchi interprets this of the princes and great men, so the word "cohanim" is sometimes used; but the context seems to carry it to the priests:

for they commit lewdness; or "enormity"; the most enormous crimes, and that purposely, with deliberation devising and contriving them.

(e) "Sichemam versus", Gussetius, Schmidt; approved by Reinbeck. De Accent. Heb. p. 442. "qua itur Sichem", Tigurine version; "qua via ad Shechemum factum occidunt", Junius & Tremellius; "quae ducit ad Sichermum", Piscator. So Abendana. (f) "Sicemice", so some in Drusius.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. company—"association" or guild of priests.

murder by consent—literally, "with one shoulder" (compare Zep 3:9, Margin). The image is from oxen putting their shoulders together to pull the same yoke [Rivetus]. Maurer translates, "in the way towards Shechem." It was a city of refuge between Ebal and Gerizim; on Mount Ephraim (Jos 20:7; 21:21), long the civil capital of Ephraim, as Shiloh was the religious capital; now called Naploos; for a time the residence of Jeroboam (1Ki 12:25). The priests there became so corrupted that they waylaid and murdered persons fleeing to the asylum for refuge [Henderson]; the sanctity of the place enhanced the guilt of the priests who abused their priestly privileges, and the right of asylum to perpetrate murders themselves, or to screen those committed by others [Maurer].

commit lewdness—deliberate crime, presumptuous wickedness, from an Arabic root, "to form a deliberate purpose."

Hosea 6:9 Parallel Commentaries

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Israel and Judah are Unrepentant
…8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. 9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. 10I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the prostitution of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

Jeremiah 7:9 "'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known,
Jeremiah 7:10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable things?
Jeremiah 11:9 Then the LORD said to me, "There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 22:9 In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts.
Ezekiel 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her.
Ezekiel 23:27 So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.
Hosea 2:10 So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands.
Hosea 4:2 There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Hosea 5:2 The rebels are knee-deep in slaughter. I will discipline all of them.
Hosea 7:1 whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets;