I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

HOSEA 4:14KJV
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Hosea 4:14 (KJV)

What does Hosea 4:14 mean?

Hosea 4:14 exposes the unfairness of blaming women for sexual wrongdoing while the men take part in similar acts themselves. God’s words point beyond the daughters and wives to a whole people whose failure to understand is leading them toward ruin.

God is speaking through Hosea to the people of Israel. After the accusation against the daughters and spouses in verse 13, God turns attention to the men: they go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with women called “harlots.” The mention of sacrifice places their conduct alongside the people’s worship.

The Hebrew behind Hosea 4:14

  • “spouses” — כַּלָּה (kallah): This word can mean a bride or a daughter-in-law. Alongside “daughters,” the KJV’s “spouses” points to women within the family circle.
  • “harlots” — קְדֵשָׁה (qedeshah): This term is often understood to mean a woman associated with prostitution at a place of worship. Its use alongside “sacrifice” links the sexual conduct in the verse with worship.
  • “fall” — לָבַט (lavat): This word carries the sense of being thrown down or coming to ruin. The closing warning pictures a serious downfall for the people who do not understand.

Why Hosea 4:14 matters

  • The statement “I will not punish your daughters” is part of an accusation against the men, not a declaration that the daughters’ conduct is good. The word “for” introduces the reason: the men themselves go off with prostitutes.
  • The warning reaches beyond individual families. “The people that doth not understand” broadens the focus to the community and connects its lack of understanding with its fall.

Where else these words appear

“fall” Hebrew H3832 · used in 3 verses

  • Proverbs 10:8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.
  • Proverbs 10:10 He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.

“harlots” Hebrew H6948 · used in 4 verses

  • Genesis 38:21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.
  • Genesis 38:22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place.
  • Deuteronomy 23:17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

“adultery” Hebrew H5003 · used in 26 verses

  • Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
  • Jeremiah 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
  • Ezekiel 16:32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!

“separated” Hebrew H6504 · used in 26 verses

  • Genesis 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
  • Deuteronomy 32:8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
  • Job 41:17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.