The Meaning of Hosea 4:11 Explained

Hosea 4:11

KJV: Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

YLT: Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take the heart,

Darby: Fornication, and wine, and new wine take away the heart.

ASV: Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the understanding.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Whoredom  and wine  and new wine  take away  the heart. 

What does Hosea 4:11 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The practice of idolatry (spiritual harlotry), with its emphasis on drinking wine, had turned the heart of the Israelites from Yahweh. With their heart for God went their realistic understanding of what was best for them, which He had revealed.

Context Summary

Hosea 4:11-19 - "joined To Idols"
The prophet does not mince his words in describing the morals of his time. We are reminded of Bunyan's words: "My original and inward pollution was my plague. It was always putting itself forth in me, and I was more loathsome in my own eyes than a toad, and I thought I was in God's eyes also. Corruption bubbled up in my heart as naturally as water in a fountain, and I thought that everyone had a better heart than I." Of course in Christ "we have redemption through His blood," and that means more than forgiveness; it implies the deliverance of the soul from the love and power of evil. But if the soul of man refuses this, obstinately and persistently, a time arrives when God gives him up to reap as he has sown.
The greatest gift we can make to our generation is that of unblemished character. Sir Leslie Stephen, the brilliant agnostic, in his mature life, went back to the grave of an undergraduate, who had been his pupil and had died in early life without having distinguished himself in his studies or athletics, but had lived the Christian life with transparent simplicity and lovableness. [source]

Chapter Summary: Hosea 4

1  God denounces judgments on Israel, for their aggravated impieties and iniquities
12  He exposes the ignorance and wickedness of the priests,
13  and moral dissolution of the people,
14  he will leave their wives and daughters to commit lewdness, without present punishment
15  He warns Judah, not to imitate Israel's crimes, which are still further reproved

What do the individual words in Hosea 4:11 mean?

Harlotry and wine and new wine enslave the heart
זְנ֛וּת וְיַ֥יִן וְתִיר֖וֹשׁ יִֽקַּֽח־ לֵֽב

זְנ֛וּת  Harlotry 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: זְנוּת  
Sense: fornication, harlotry.
וְיַ֥יִן  and  wine 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular
Root: יַיִן  
Sense: wine.
וְתִיר֖וֹשׁ  and  new  wine 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular
Root: יָרַשׁ 
Sense: wine, fresh or new wine, must, freshly pressed wine.
יִֽקַּֽח־  enslave 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: יָקַח 
Sense: to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away.
לֵֽב  the  heart 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: לֵב 
Sense: inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.