9 And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish
9 And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
9 The result: You can't tell the people from the priests, the priests from the people. I'm on my way to make them both pay and take the consequences of the bad lives they've lived.
9 And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
9 'And what the priests do, the people also do.' So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hosea 4:9
Commentary on Hosea 4:6-11
(Read Hosea 4:6-11)
Both priests and people rejected knowledge; God will justly reject them. They forgot the law of God, neither desired nor endeavoured to retain it in mind, and to transmit the remembrance to their posterity; therefore God will justly forget them and their children. If we dishonour God with that which is our honour, it will, sooner or later, be turned into shame to us. Instead of warning the people against sin, from the consideration of the sacrifices, which showed what an offence sin was to God, since it needed an atonement, the priests encouraged the people to sin, since atonement might be made at so small an expense. It is very wicked to be pleased with the sins of others, because they may turn to our advantage. What is unlawfully gained, cannot be comfortably used. The people and the priests hardened one another in sin; therefore justly shall they share in the punishment. Sharers in sin must expect to share in ruin. Any lust harboured in the heart, in time will eat out all its strength and vigour. That is the reason why many professors grow so heavy, so dull, so dead in the way of religion. They have a liking for some secret lust, which takes away their hearts.