2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood
2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
2 All this cussing and lying and killing, theft and loose sex, sheer anarchy, one murder after another!
2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
2 You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere- one murder after another.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hosea 4:2
Commentary on Hosea 4:1-5
(Read Hosea 4:1-5)
Hosea reproves for immorality, as well as idolatry. There was no truth, mercy, or knowledge of God in the land: it was full of murders, 2 Kings 21:16. Therefore calamities were near, which would desolate the country. Our sins, as separate persons, as a family, as a neighbourhood, as a nation, cause the Lord to have a controversy with us; let us submit and humble ourselves before Him, that he may not go on to destroy.