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Hosea 9:4

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

They shall not offer wine [offerings] to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices [shall be] unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.

Hosea 9:4 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Hosea 9:4

Theological / Devotional

Bread of mourners. This was food eaten at a funeral meal by those mourning for the dead. Any such food was legally unclean because a corpse ceremonially defiled for seven days the dwelling where it was and all who entered therein (see on Num. 19:14). Therefore, those who ate this food would be ceremonially unclean. Thus it would be with the captives in the polluted land of their exile.

Bread for their soul. The clause reads literally, “for their bread [is] for their soul”; that is, “for themselves” (see on Ps. 16:10). All their food would be needed to nourish their lives. It would not be brought to the house of the Lord as an offering.

By SdaBc