What is Sexual Immorality?

Posted on June 22, 2012 by admin

For a long time I thought I understood exactly what sexual immorality (πορνεία) in 1 Corinthians 5:1 (NET) [Table] meant.

It is actually reported that sexual immorality (πορνεία) exists among you, the kind of immorality (πορνεία) that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting (ἔχειν, a form of ἔχω) with his father’s wife.

I assumed that father’s wife meant not the son’s mother. So I assumed this wife was at least the father’s second, probably younger than he, maybe even closer to the son’s age. The son and the father’s new young wife became attracted to one another. Either she divorced the father and married the son or simply ran off with the son. The Greek word translated cohabiting is ἔχειν (ἔχω, to hold) and might mean either (along with a host of other forms of possession or ownership usually translated to have).

For all I know this is exactly what it means, but some confusion and uncertainty set in as I began to wonder what πορνεία itself meant, especially when I began to suspect that it had something to do with “idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices).” My religious mind says, “Look, I’ve got the rule: ‘Don’t mess around with your father’s wife.’ I’m satisfied with that. Don’t confuse me.” I’ve obviously become suspicious of my religious mind. So in the spirit of expanding the context a bit and knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He] sent¹ I’m going to explore some of my confusion.

The sin scenario I described above is adultery (μοιχεία) plain and simple. Why call it πορνεία? But I had assumed that the father was still alive. What if the father was already deceased?

You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 18:8 (NET)

If a man has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.

Leviticus 20:11 (NET)

This is the strongest indication I know that πορνεία meant a violation of Leviticus 18 and 20 to Jesus, Paul and the New Testament writers. But why would there be such an arbitrary limit? Why didn’t πορνεία mean immorality in general, any and every violation of God’s law? That led me inexorably to the conclusion that though πορνεία may have connoted violations of Leviticus 18 and 20 in Jewish minds (strictly speaking Paul was descended from Benjamin not Judah), its underlying denotation in Greek was the sexuality of ancient (and not so ancient) religious worship.

This form of religious worship was still practiced openly in Corinth. In Corinth the πόρνη, the female devotee of this manner of worship, still lived in all her honor and glory. And I think it is safe to say that though this form of worship wasn’t mandatory, it was still a good way to advance one’s business and political ambitions (not to mention satisfying a thirst for wine, women and song). With that in mind I want to look at the next chapter of 1 Corinthians. I’m quoting 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NET), except that I’m not translating words from the πόρνος word group.

“All things are lawful for me” – but not everything is beneficial. “All things are lawful for me” – but I will not be controlled by anything. “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both.” The body is not for [πορνείᾳ], but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Now God indeed raised the Lord and he will raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a [πόρνης, a form of πόρνη]? Never! Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a [πόρνῃ] is one body with her? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee [πορνείαν, a form of πορνείᾳ]! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body” – but [πορνεύων, a form of πορνεύω] sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.²

While it is probably true that the body is not for an everyday-run-of-the-mill prostitute, I think the thrust of Paul’s message above (I should say “no pun intended,” but I can’t say for sure) was the cultic variety. Members of Christ should not also become members of other gods (or goddesses).

The phrases in quotes above are thought to be Corinthian slogans (notes 10, 11) by the translators of the NET. That may be true, but I still believe that, All things are lawful for me but not everything is beneficial is Paul’s take home message from the Jerusalem Council. I seriously doubt that James took home the same message. And I believe that Paul was beginning to struggle with it a bit here.

At the time of the Jerusalem Council God had apparently only called Gentiles who were Jewish converts, God fearers or people who had attached themselves to Jewish synagogues in some fashion. In Corinth He also called, The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards,³ the verbally abusive, and swindlers.⁴ And He had given them his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:4-9 NET).

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus. For you were made rich in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge – just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you – so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Apparently some of them were having difficulty shedding their former sins. What’s a former Pharisee to do? Paul singled out one man who had his father’s wife, and made an example of him. I’ve considered that perhaps this man had (ἔχειν, a form of ἔχω) his father’s wife in a more commercial sense, that he was pimping her somehow as a temple prostitute. But it feels like I’m reaching. Paul was quite careful in 1 Corinthians 7:2 (NET) to clarify the vagaries of ἐχέτω (another form of ἔχω).

But because of immoralities (πορνείας, a form of πορνεία), each man should have relations with (ἐχέτω, another form of ἔχω) his own wife and each woman with (ἐχέτω, another form of ἔχω) her own husband.

The translators added the words relations with for clarity. In Greek it reads more like, each man should have his own wife and each woman should have her own husband. Out of context like this it is a clear command that all in Corinth should marry. But Paul introduced this statement with 1 Corinthians 7:1 (NET).

It is good (καλὸν, a form of καλός) for a man not to have sexual relations (ἅπτεσθαι, a form of ἅπτω) with a woman.

So he clarified the meaning of ἔχω (ἐχέτω) in this case and kept its use from becoming an unintended prohibition against celibacy. Surely some clarification or elaboration on ἔχω (ἔχειν) was in order if Paul meant to communicate that a man was pimping his father’s wife as a temple prostitute, unless the meaning of πορνεία so clearly and exclusively referenced such activity that no other meaning would have been considered. And I am still a long way from accepting that idea. I consider 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5 (NET):

Finally⁵ then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that⁶ as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living)⁷ that you do so more and more. For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is God’s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from [πορνείας], that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.

So far so good. I’m willing to accept that Paul was writing about abstaining from idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices). But wait, Paul continued (1 Thessalonians 4:6-8 NET):

In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, because the⁸ Lord is the avenger in all these cases, as we also told you earlier⁹ and warned you solemnly. For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.¹⁰

I don’t know if believing women in the first century could be compelled against their wills¹¹ to serve in Thessalonica as cult prostitutes or not. I would hope if that were the case that Paul’s words would have had more fight in them. He probably wouldn’t have said, “Lock and load, brothers!” I doubt that Paul would consider having the brothers go all Simeon and Levi ¹² on the town of Thessalonica was the best way to present the Gospel. But he might have suggested that a brother should get to her first, buy her and take her home to her husband, rather than the comparatively wimpy admonition not to violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of the situation!

So, though Paul used the word πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, I sincerely hope he meant simple adultery, (μοιχεία). And its usage here persuades me that πορνεία could mean μοιχεία.

Addendum: April 6, 2019

Tables comparing Leviticus 18:8; 20:11 and Genesis 2:24 in the Tanakh and NET, and the tables comparing Leviticus 18:8; 20:11 and Genesis 2:24 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow. Following those are tables comparing 1 Corinthians 6:20; 6:10; 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 4:6 and 4:8 in the NET and KJV.

Leviticus 18:8 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 18:8 (NET)
The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.	You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 18:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 18:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀσχημοσύνην γυναικὸς πατρός σου οὐκ ἀποκαλύψεις ἀσχημοσύνη πατρός σού ἐστιν	ἀσχημοσύνην γυναικὸς πατρός σου οὐκ ἀποκαλύψεις, ἀσχημοσύνη πατρὸς σού ἐστιν.
Leviticus 18:8 (NETS)	Leviticus 18:8 (English Elpenor)
You shall not uncover the shame of your father’s wife; it is the shame of your father.	Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s wife; it is thy father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 20:11 (Tanakh)	Leviticus 20:11 (NET)
And the man that lieth with his father’s wife–he hath uncovered his father’s nakedness–both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.	If a man goes to bed with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.

Leviticus 20:11 (Septuagint BLB)	Leviticus 20:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐάν τις κοιμηθῇ μετὰ γυναικὸς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀσχημοσύνην τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀπεκάλυψεν θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν ἀμφότεροι ἔνοχοί εἰσιν	καὶ ἐάν τις κοιμηθῇ μετὰ γυναικὸς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, ἀσχημοσύνην τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀπεκάλυψε, θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν, ἀμφότεροι ἔνοχοί εἰσι.
Leviticus 20:11 (NETS)	Leviticus 20:11 (English Elpenor)
And if anyone lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s shame; let both of them by death be put to death; they are liable.	And if any one should lie with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness: let them both die the death, they are guilty.

Genesis 2:24 (Tanakh)	Genesis 2:24 (KJV)
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.	Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Genesis 2:24 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 2:24 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἕνεκεν τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῗκα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν	ἕνεκεν τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν.
Genesis 2:24 (NETS)	Genesis 2:24 (English Elpenor)
Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.	Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

1 Corinthians 6:20 (NET)	1 Corinthians 6:20 (KJV)
For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.	For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἠγοράσθητε γὰρ τιμῆς· δοξάσατε δὴ τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν	ηγορασθητε γαρ τιμης δοξασατε δη τον θεον εν τω σωματι υμων και εν τω πνευματι υμων ατινα εστιν του θεου	ηγορασθητε γαρ τιμης δοξασατε δη τον θεον εν τω σωματι υμων και εν τω πνευματι υμων ατινα εστιν του θεου

1 Corinthians 6:10 (NET)	1 Corinthians 6:10 (KJV)
thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God.	Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
οὔτε κλέπται οὔτε πλεονέκται, οὐ μέθυσοι, οὐ λοίδοροι, οὐχ ἅρπαγες βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομήσουσιν	ουτε κλεπται ουτε πλεονεκται ουτε μεθυσοι ου λοιδοροι ουχ αρπαγες βασιλειαν θεου ου κληρονομησουσιν	ουτε πλεονεκται ουτε κλεπται ουτε μεθυσοι ου λοιδοροι ουχ αρπαγες βασιλειαν θεου ου κληρονομησουσιν

1 Corinthians 7:1 (NET)	1 Corinthians 7:1 (KJV)
Now with regard to the issues you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”	Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Περὶ δὲ ὧν ἐγράψατε, καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι	περι δε ων εγραψατε μοι καλον ανθρωπω γυναικος μη απτεσθαι	περι δε ων εγραψατε μοι καλον ανθρωπω γυναικος μη απτεσθαι

1 Thessalonians 4:1 (NET)	1 Thessalonians 4:1 (KJV)
Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) that you do so more and more.	Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Λοιπὸν \|οὖν\|, ἀδελφοί, ἐρωτῶμεν ὑμᾶς καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ, \|ἵνα\| καθὼς παρελάβετε παρ᾿ ἡμῶν τὸ πῶς δεῖ ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν καὶ ἀρέσκειν θεῷ (καθὼς καὶ περιπατεῖτε) ἵνα περισσεύητε μᾶλλον	το λοιπον ουν αδελφοι ερωτωμεν υμας και παρακαλουμεν εν κυριω ιησου καθως παρελαβετε παρ ημων το πως δει υμας περιπατειν και αρεσκειν θεω ινα περισσευητε μαλλον	το λοιπον ουν αδελφοι ερωτωμεν υμας και παρακαλουμεν εν κυριω ιησου καθως παρελαβετε παρ ημων το πως δει υμας περιπατειν και αρεσκειν θεω ινα περισσευητε μαλλον

1 Thessalonians 4:6 (NET)	1 Thessalonians 4:6 (KJV)
In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, because the Lord is the avenger in all these cases, as we also told you earlier and warned you solemnly.	That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
τὸ μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐν τῷ πράγματι τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, διότι ἔκδικος κύριος περὶ πάντων τούτων, καθὼς καὶ προείπαμεν ὑμῖν καὶ διεμαρτυράμεθα	το μη υπερβαινειν και πλεονεκτειν εν τω πραγματι τον αδελφον αυτου διοτι εκδικος ο κυριος περι παντων τουτων καθως και προειπαμεν υμιν και διεμαρτυραμεθα	ο μη υπερβαινειν και πλεονεκτειν εν τω πραγματι τον αδελφον αυτου διοτι εκδικος ο κυριος περι παντων τουτων καθως και προειπομεν υμιν και διεμαρτυραμεθα

1 Thessalonians 4:8 (NET)	1 Thessalonians 4:8 (KJV)
Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.	He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
τοιγαροῦν ὁ ἀθετῶν οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἀθετεῖ ἀλλὰ τὸν θεὸν τὸν [καὶ] διδόντα τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον εἰς ὑμᾶς	τοιγαρουν ο αθετων ουκ ανθρωπον αθετει αλλα τον θεον τον και δοντα το πνευμα αυτου το αγιον εις ημας	τοιγαρουν ο αθετων ουκ ανθρωπον αθετει αλλα τον θεον τον και δοντα το πνευμα αυτου το αγιον εις υμας

Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 1

Back to Paul’s Religious Mind

Back to Romans, Part 2

Back to Paul’s OT Quotes – Romans 9:25-33

Back to Romans, Part 38

Back to Romans, Part 44

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 7

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 8

Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 1

Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 7

Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 12

Back to Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited – Part 1

Back to Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 2

Back to Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 3

Back to Adultery in the Law, Part 3

Back to David’s Forgiveness, Part 10

Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 2

Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 11

Back to Adultery in the Law, Part 1

Back to Adultery in the Law, Part 2

Back to Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Part 1

Back to A Monotonous Cycle Revisited, Part 1

Back to Romans, Part 82

Back to Paul in Corinth

Back to Romans, Part 13

Back to Romans, Part 48

Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 4

Back to Romans, Part 59

Back to Romans, Part 87

Back to Romans, Part 83

Back to The Day of the Lord, Part 1

Back to Christianity, Part 11

Back to Christianity, Part 13

Back to Christ-Centered Preaching, Chapter 1

¹ John 17:3 (NET)

² The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και εν τω πνευματι υμων ατινα εστιν του θεου (KJV: and in your spirit, which are God’s) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

³ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had οὐ preceding drunkards, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ουτε.

⁴ 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10a (NET)

⁵ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article το preceding Finally (KJV: Furthermore). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁶ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἵνα here. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

⁷ The phrase καθὼς καὶ περιπατεῖτε (as you are in fact living) in the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ was not in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

⁸ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the article ο here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁹ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Stephanus Textus Receptus had προείπαμεν here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had προειπομεν.

¹⁰ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had ὑμᾶς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had ημας (KJV: unto us).

¹¹ And I must assume against their wills, otherwise this should be addressed to the women rather than the men.

¹² Cf. Genesis 34:25. When Jacob complained to his sons, Simeon and Levi replied, “Should he treat our sister like a common prostitute?” (Genesis 34:31 NET). Common prostitute was πόρνῃ in the Septuagint. Their sister Dinah was either raped, or seduced before proper wedding arrangements had been made (Genesis 34:2).

Paul’s Religious Mind

Posted on June 12, 2012 by admin

Jesus said, Do not judge (κρίνετε, a form of κρίνω) so that you will not be judged (κριθῆτε, another form of κρίνω). For by the standard (κρίματι, a form of κρίμα) you judge (κρίνετε,a form of κρίνω) you will be judged (κριθήσεσθε, another form of κρίνω), and the measure (μέτρῳ, a form of μέτρον) you use (μετρεῖτε, a form of μετρέω) will be the measure (μετρηθήσεται, another form of μετρέω) you receive.¹

In my opinion Paul’s religious mind wrote, For even though I am absent² physically, I am present in spirit. And I have already judged (κέκρικα, another form of κρίνω) the one who did this, just as though I were present.³ Paul was speaking about a man rumored to have (ἔχειν, a form of ἔχω) his father’s wife. (The NET translated the word ἔχειν cohabiting with,⁴ rendering πορνεία in this passage as adultery, incest or a violation of Leviticus 20:11⁵ rather than idolatrous worship [including its drunken sexual practices].)

My reasons for calling this Paul’s religious mind are as follows: 1) the fact that Paul gave evidence of knowing Jesus’ command (1 Corinthians 4:5 NET):

So then, do not judge (κρίνετε, a form of κρίνω) anything before the time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God.

2) his own rhetorical justification sounds spurious (1 Corinthians 5:12, 13 NET) when contrasted to Jesus’ teaching.

For what do I⁶ have to do with judging (κρίνειν, another form of κρίνω) those outside? Are you not to judge (κρίνετε, a form of κρίνω) those inside? But God will judge (κρινεῖ, another form of κρίνω) those outside. Remove⁷ the evil person from among you.

Here is Jesus’ teaching on the subject (Luke 6:37, 38 NET [Table]):

Do not judge (κρίνετε, a form of κρίνω), and you will not be judged (κριθῆτε, another form of κρίνω); do⁸ not condemn (καταδικάζετε, a form of καταδικάζω), and you will not be condemned (καταδικασθῆτε, another form of καταδικάζω); forgive (ἀπολύετε, a form of ἀπολύω), and you will be forgiven (ἀπολυθήσεσθε, another form of ἀπολύω). Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure (μέτρον), pressed down, shaken⁹ together, running over,¹⁰ will be poured into your lap. For the¹¹ measure (μέτρῳ, a form of μέτρον) you use (μετρεῖτε, a form of μετρέω) will be the¹² measure you receive (ἀντιμετρηθήσεται, a form of ἀντιμετρέω).

I find it hard to believe that Jesus intended this graciousness for outsiders only and not for those who believed. The presumed answer to Paul’s rhetorical question—Are you not to judge those inside?—is not sufficient to alter my belief.

3) Paul later forgave the sinner and urged the Corinthians to do likewise after they had shunned him (2 Corinthians 2:5-8 NET):

But if anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but¹³ to some extent (not to exaggerate) he has saddened all of you as well. This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him, so that now instead you should rather forgive (χαρίσασθαι, a form of χαρίζομαι) and comfort (παρακαλέσαι, a form of παρακαλέω) him. This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. Therefore I urge (παρακαλῶ, another form of παρακαλέω) you to reaffirm your love (ἀγάπην, a form of ἀγάπη) for him.

4) Paul altered his original justification for judging the man and commanding that he be shunned (2 Corinthians 2:9-11 and 7:11, 12 NET):

For this reason also I wrote you: to test (δοκιμὴν, a form of δοκιμή; literally, γνῶ τὴν δοκιμὴν, “know” or “learn by testing”) you to see if you are obedient (ὑπήκοοι, a form of ὑπήκοος) in everything. If you forgive (χαρίζεσθε, another form of χαρίζομαι) anyone for anything, I also forgive him – for indeed what¹⁴ I have forgiven (κεχάρισμαι, another form of χαρίζομαι) (if I have forgiven [κεχάρισμαι, another form of χαρίζομαι] anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ, so that we may not be exploited by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes)…
For see what this very thing, this sadness¹⁵ [caused by Paul’s original letter, cf. 2 Corinthians 7:8] as God intended, has produced (κατειργάσατο, a form of κατεργάζομαι) in you: what eagerness, what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what deep concern, what¹⁶ punishment! In¹⁷ everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of¹⁸ the one who did wrong (ἀδικήσαντος, a form of ἀδικέω), or on account of¹⁹ the one who was wronged (ἀδικηθέντος, another form of ἀδικέω), but²⁰ to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf before God.

5) Paul later developed a more appropriate way for dealing with similar situations, something more in line with Jesus’ teaching (Galatians 6:1-5 NET Table):

Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin (παραπτώματι, a form of παράπτωμα), you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness.²¹ Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too. Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill (ἀναπληρώσετε, a form of ἀναπληρόω) the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each one examine (δοκιμαζέτω, a form of δοκιμάζω) his own work (ἔργον). Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else. For each one will carry his own load.

Below is a comparison/contrast of 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 (NET) and Galatians 6:1-5 (NET):

1 Corinthians 5:1-13 (NET) Table

Galatians 6:1-5 (NET) Table

It is actually reported that sexual immorality (πορνεία) exists among you, the kind of immorality (πορνεία) that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed²² the one who did²³ this from among you? For even though I am absent physically, I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present. When you gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus,²⁴ and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of our Lord Jesus, turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.²⁵

1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NET)

Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness.

Galatians 6:1a (NET)

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast affects the whole batch of dough? Clean out²⁶ the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough – you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.²⁷ So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NET)

Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too. Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Galatians 6:1b-3 (NET)

I wrote you in my letter²⁸ not to associate with sexually immoral people (πόρνοις, a form of πόρνος). In²⁹ no way did I mean the immoral people (πόρνοις, a form of πόρνος) of this world, or the greedy and³⁰ swindlers and idolaters, since you would³¹ then have to go out of the world. But now³² I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian (ἀδελφός) who is sexually immoral (πόρνος), or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside? But God will judge those outside. Remove the evil person from among you.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (NET)

Let each one examine his own work. Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else. For each one will carry his own load.

Galatians 6:4, 5 (NET)

What happened to Paul between the writing of 1 Corinthians 5 and Galatians 6? The obvious answer is an affliction that happened to us³³ in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living.³⁴ But something else probably occurred as well, the crystallization of the understanding that became, and the actual writing of, Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Addendum: January 25, 2024
When you gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of our Lord Jesus, turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Corinthians 5:4, 5 NET). I was bothered most by hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (παραδοῦναι τὸν τοιοῦτον τῷ σατανᾷ εἰς ὄλεθρον τῆς σαρκός). Now, I wonder if Paul had in mind something like: God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false (2 Thessalonians 2:11 NET).

When this happened to me, I thought of it as my own idea, even an inescapable conclusion, that God was not. If I had been cast out in some formal ceremony, handed over to Satan, I’m afraid I would have responded like Canaan to Noah’s curse rather than finding the end of myself and seeking some remedy for my sinfulness.

Addendum: February 21, 2019
Tables of 1 Corinthians 5:3; 5:12, 13; 2 Corinthians 2:5; 2:10; 7:11, 12; 1 Corinthians 5:2; 5:4, 5; 5:7 and 5:10, 11 comparing the NET and KJV follow.

1 Corinthians 5:3 (NET)	1 Corinthians 5:3 (KJV)
For even though I am absent physically, I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present.	For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἐγὼ μὲν γάρ, ἀπὼν τῷ σώματι παρὼν δὲ τῷ πνεύματι, ἤδη κέκρικα ὡς παρὼν τὸν οὕτως τοῦτο κατεργασάμενον	εγω μεν γαρ ως απων τω σωματι παρων δε τω πνευματι ηδη κεκρικα ως παρων τον ουτως τουτο κατεργασαμενον	εγω μεν γαρ ως απων τω σωματι παρων δε τω πνευματι ηδη κεκρικα ως παρων τον ουτως τουτο κατεργασαμενον

1 Corinthians 5:12, 13 (NET)	1 Corinthians 5:12, 13 (KJV)
For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside?	For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
τί γάρ μοι τοὺς ἔξω κρίνειν; οὐχὶ τοὺς ἔσω ὑμεῖς κρίνετε	τι γαρ μοι και τους εξω κρινειν ουχι τους εσω υμεις κρινετε	τι γαρ μοι και τους εξω κρινειν ουχι τους εσω υμεις κρινετε

But God will judge those outside. Remove the evil person from among you.

But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
τοὺς δὲ ἔξω ὁ θεὸς κρινεῖ. ἐξάρατε τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν	τους δε εξω ο θεος κρινει και εξαρειτε τον πονηρον εξ υμων αυτων	τους δε εξω ο θεος κρινει και εξαρειτε τον πονηρον εξ υμων αυτων

2 Corinthians 2:5 (NET)	2 Corinthians 2:5 (KJV)
But if anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but to some extent (not to exaggerate) he has saddened all of you as well.	But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Εἰ δέ τις λελύπηκεν, οὐκ ἐμὲ λελύπηκεν, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ μέρους (ἵνα μὴ ἐπιβαρῶ), πάντας ὑμᾶς	ει δε τις λελυπηκεν ουκ εμε λελυπηκεν αλλ απο μερους ινα μη επιβαρω παντας υμας	ει δε τις λελυπηκεν ουκ εμε λελυπηκεν αλλα απο μερους ινα μη επιβαρω παντας υμας

2 Corinthians 2:10 (NET)	2 Corinthians 2:10 (KJV)
If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him – for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ,	To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ᾧ δέ τι χαρίζεσθε, καγώ· καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ ὃ κεχάρισμαι (εἴ τι κεχάρισμαι), δι᾿ ὑμᾶς ἐν προσώπῳ Χριστοῦ,	ω δε τι χαριζεσθε και εγω και γαρ εγω ει τι κεχαρισμαι ω κεχαρισμαι δι υμας εν προσωπω χριστου	ω δε τι χαριζεσθε και εγω και γαρ εγω ει τι κεχαρισμαι ω κεχαρισμαι δι υμας εν προσωπω χριστου

2 Corinthians 7:11, 12 (NET)	2 Corinthians 7:11, 12 (KJV)
For see what this very thing, this sadness as God intended, has produced in you: what eagerness, what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what deep concern, what punishment! In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.	For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἰδοὺ γὰρ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ κατὰ θεὸν λυπηθῆναι πόσην κατειργάσατο ὑμῖν σπουδήν, ἀλλὰ ἀπολογίαν, ἀλλὰ ἀγανάκτησιν, ἀλλὰ φόβον, ἀλλὰ ἐπιπόθησιν, ἀλλὰ ζῆλον, ἀλλὰ ἐκδίκησιν. ἐν παντὶ συνεστήσατε ἑαυτοὺς ἁγνοὺς εἶναι τῷ πράγματι	ιδου γαρ αυτο τουτο το κατα θεον λυπηθηναι υμας ποσην κατειργασατο υμιν σπουδην αλλα απολογιαν αλλα αγανακτησιν αλλα φοβον αλλα επιποθησιν αλλα ζηλον αλλ εκδικησιν εν παντι συνεστησατε εαυτους αγνους ειναι εν τω πραγματι	ιδου γαρ αυτο τουτο το κατα θεον λυπηθηναι υμας ποσην κατειργασατο υμιν σπουδην αλλα απολογιαν αλλα αγανακτησιν αλλα φοβον αλλα επιποθησιν αλλα ζηλον αλλα εκδικησιν παντι συνεστησατε εαυτους αγνους ειναι εν τω πραγματι

So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong, or on account of the one who was wronged, but to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf before God.

Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἄρα εἰ καὶ ἔγραψα ὑμῖν, οὐχ ἕνεκεν τοῦ ἀδικήσαντος οὐδὲ ἕνεκεν τοῦ ἀδικηθέντος ἀλλ᾿ ἕνεκεν τοῦ φανερωθῆναι τὴν σπουδὴν ὑμῶν τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ	αρα ει και εγραψα υμιν ουχ εινεκεν του αδικησαντος ουδε εινεκεν του αδικηθεντος αλλ εινεκεν του φανερωθηναι την σπουδην υμων την υπερ ημων προς υμας ενωπιον του θεου	αρα ει και εγραψα υμιν ουχ εινεκεν του αδικησαντος ουδε εινεκεν του αδικηθεντος αλλ εινεκεν του φανερωθηναι την σπουδην υμων την υπερ ημων προς υμας ενωπιον του θεου

1 Corinthians 5:2 (NET)	1 Corinthians 5:2 (KJV)
And you are proud! Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this from among you?	And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ὑμεῖς πεφυσιωμένοι ἐστὲ καὶ οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἐπενθήσατε, ἵνα ἀρθῇ ἐκ μέσου ὑμῶν ὁ τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο πράξας	και υμεις πεφυσιωμενοι εστε και ουχι μαλλον επενθησατε ινα εξαρθη εκ μεσου υμων ο το εργον τουτο ποιησας	και υμεις πεφυσιωμενοι εστε και ουχι μαλλον επενθησατε ινα εξαρθη εκ μεσου υμων ο το εργον τουτο ποιησας

1 Corinthians 5:4, 5 (NET)	1 Corinthians 5:4, 5 (KJV)
When you gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of our Lord Jesus,	In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου [ἡμῶν] Ἰησοῦ συναχθέντων ὑμῶν καὶ τοῦ ἐμοῦ πνεύματος σὺν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ,	εν τω ονοματι του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου συναχθεντων υμων και του εμου πνευματος συν τη δυναμει του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου	εν τω ονοματι του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου συναχθεντων υμων και του εμου πνευματος συν τη δυναμει του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου

hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
παραδοῦναι τὸν τοιοῦτον τῷ σατανᾷ εἰς ὄλεθρον τῆς σαρκός, ἵνα τὸ πνεῦμα σωθῇ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ κυρίου	παραδουναι τον τοιουτον τω σατανα εις ολεθρον της σαρκος ινα το πνευμα σωθη εν τη ημερα του κυριου ιησου	παραδουναι τον τοιουτον τω σατανα εις ολεθρον της σαρκος ινα το πνευμα σωθη εν τη ημερα του κυριου ιησου

1 Corinthians 5:7 (NET)	1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV)
Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough – you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.	Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ἐκκαθάρατε τὴν παλαιὰν ζύμην, ἵνα ἦτε νέον φύραμα, καθώς ἐστε ἄζυμοι· καὶ γὰρ τὸ πάσχα ἡμῶν ἐτύθη Χριστός	εκκαθαρατε ουν την παλαιαν ζυμην ινα ητε νεον φυραμα καθως εστε αζυμοι και γαρ το πασχα ημων υπερ ημων ετυθη χριστος	εκκαθαρατε την παλαιαν ζυμην ινα ητε νεον φυραμα καθως εστε αζυμοι και γαρ το πασχα ημων υπερ ημων ετυθη χριστος

1 Corinthians 5:10, 11 (NET)	1 Corinthians 5:10, 11 (KJV)
In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world.	Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
οὐ πάντως τοῖς πόρνοις τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἢ τοῖς πλεονέκταις καὶ ἅρπαξιν ἢ εἰδωλολάτραις, ἐπεὶ ὠφείλετε ἄρα ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελθεῖν	και ου παντως τοις πορνοις του κοσμου τουτου η τοις πλεονεκταις η αρπαξιν η ειδωλολατραις επει οφειλετε αρα εκ του κοσμου εξελθειν	και ου παντως τοις πορνοις του κοσμου τουτου η τοις πλεονεκταις η αρπαξιν η ειδωλολατραις επει οφειλετε αρα εκ του κοσμου εξελθειν

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
νῦν δὲ ἔγραψα ὑμῖν μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι ἐάν τις ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος ᾖ πόρνος ἢ πλεονέκτης ἢ εἰδωλολάτρης ἢ λοίδορος ἢ μέθυσος ἢ ἅρπαξ, τῷ τοιούτῳ μηδὲ συνεσθίειν	νυνι δε εγραψα υμιν μη συναναμιγνυσθαι εαν τις αδελφος ονομαζομενος η πορνος η πλεονεκτης η ειδωλολατρης η λοιδορος η μεθυσος η αρπαξ τω τοιουτω μηδε συνεσθιειν	νυν δε εγραψα υμιν μη συναναμιγνυσθαι εαν τις αδελφος ονομαζομενος η πορνος η πλεονεκτης η ειδωλολατρης η λοιδορος η μεθυσος η αρπαξ τω τοιουτω μηδε συνεσθιειν

Peter and Cornelius

Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited – Part 1

Back to Romans, Part 3

Back to Romans, Part 7

Back to You Must Be Gentle, Part 1

Back to Son of God – John, Part 2

Back to Romans, Part 42

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 5

Back to Romans, Part 48

Back to Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited – Part 2

Back to Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 2

Back to Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 6

Back to Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 7

Back to Sirach: Pro and Con

Back to Atonement, Part 11

Back to Adultery in the Law, Part 3

Back to Atonement. Part 5

Back to Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 4

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 4

Back to Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 3

Back to Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 3

Back to Is Sin Less Than Sin? Part 3

Back to Is Sin Less Than Sin? Part 1

Back to Is Sin Less Than Sin? Part 2

Back to Is Sin Less Than Sin? Part 4

Back to Nothing True, Part 2

Back to The Day of the Lord, Part 2

¹ Matthew 7:1, 2 (NET) Table

² The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ως preceding absent (KJV: as). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

³ 1 Corinthians 5:3 (NET)

⁴ 1 Corinthians 5:1 (NET)

⁵ If a man has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. (Leviticus 20:11 NET) Also: Deuteronomy 22:30 (NET)

⁶ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και following I (KJV: also). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁷ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και beginning this clause (KJV: Therefore). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

⁸ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had καὶ preceding do. The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

⁹ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καὶ preceding shaken together and running over (KJV: and). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹⁰ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὑπερεκχυννόμενον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had υπερεκχυνομενον.

¹¹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ᾧ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τω and αυτω (KJV: the same).

¹² The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ω (KJV: that) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹³ The NET parallel Greek text and Byzantine Majority Text had ἀλλὰ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and NA²⁸ had ἀλλ’.

¹⁴ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὃ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ω (KJV: to whom).

¹⁵ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had υμας following the passive verb translated sadness in the NET (KJV: ye sorrowed). The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

¹⁶ The NET parallel Greek text and Byzantine Majority Text had ἀλλὰ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and NA²⁸ had ἀλλ’ (KJV: yea, what).

¹⁷ The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Stephanus Textus Receptus had ἐν here. The Byzantine Majority Text did not.

¹⁸ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἕνεκεν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εινεκεν (KJV: for his cause).

¹⁹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἕνεκεν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εινεκεν (KJV: for his cause).

²⁰ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ἕνεκεν following but (NET: possibly, on our behalf), where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εινεκεν (KJV: apparently not translated).

²¹ In the NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ gentleness was spelled πραΰτητος, and πραοτητος in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

²² The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had the passive verb ἀρθῇ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the passive verb εξαρθη (KJV: might be taken away).

²³ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had πράξας here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ποιησας (KJV: hath done).

²⁴ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had χριστου (KJV: Christ) following Jesus. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

²⁵ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ιησου (KJV: Jesus) following Lord. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

²⁶ The Stephanus Textus Receptus had ουν (KJV: therefore) following Clean out. The NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

²⁷ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had υπερ ημων (KJV: for us) following sacrificed. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

²⁸ 1 Corinthians is at least Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth. The previous letter was apparently not preserved.

²⁹ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και (KJV: Yet) at the beginning of this clause. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

³⁰ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had και here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had η.

³¹ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had ὠφείλετε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οφειλετε (KJV: must).

³² The Stephanus Textus Receptus had νυνι here, where the NET parallel Greek text, NA²⁸ and Byzantine Majority Text had νῦν.

³³ The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ημιν here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ did not.

³⁴ 2 Corinthians 1:8 (NET) Table

Conclusion

Posted on June 8, 2012 by admin

Athens and Corinth¹ are the only locales around the Mediterranean where contemporary historians recognize idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices) being carried out more or less openly in the first century. Trusting the Bible and experimenting with the idea that this is what New Testament authors meant by the word πορνεία persuades me that such worship was practiced more secretly elsewhere. But I would be very surprised indeed to learn that as Jesus spoke the words in Matthew 5:32 or 19:9 it was practiced in Judea. Samaria? Maybe. But not Judea. That would be much more surprising than the insight that the people who first heard the law at Sinai were accustomed to these religious practices.

My surprise isn’t an argument for or against the truth of anything. I was just as surprised the first time I heard about Republican presidents, candidates and cabinet members engaging in this kind of πορνεία. I was watching television in a hotel room. By watching television I mean I was flipping through channels searching for a movie with my customary attitude toward television shows and commercials; namely, “Get my attention. I dare you!” A piece on Russian Television (RT) about Bohemian Grove broke through the clutter. But after it was over and I resumed flipping channels I didn’t store that information as an example of πορνεία in the contemporary world, but as an example of the most bizarre Republican bashing I had ever heard.

Subsequently though, a little more research revealed that a journalist in 1989 and a radio talk show host in 2000 successfully infiltrated this secretive and exclusive gathering of media, business and power elites (mostly Republicans) at Bohemian Grove about 70 miles northwest of San Francisco. Men—exclusively men—have met there in July since the 1880’s. Though the two infiltrators returned with different perceptions of the meaning of the events in question, some basic facts emerged, especially the opening festivities called the Cremation of Care.

The Cremation of Care is a mock human sacrifice before a forty-five foot stone idol of an owl. (Years ago it was a plaster-of-Paris Buddha.) The πόρνη, female prostitutes, at Bohemian Grove are secular pros rather than religious devotees who meet with their clients outside the camp, as it were, since women are forbidden at these gatherings. The πόρνος, male prostitutes, are other members of this exclusive club. And I got the impression that their service was more “spiritual,” in the sense that it was offered in the spirit of the festivities rather than as a work for hire. Apparently however the πόρνος were more active in times past before the AIDS epidemic. Drinking (and peeing) is legendary at Bohemian Grove.

The talk show host photographed the Cremation of Care ceremony on video. His hidden camera work was not great filmmaking; it didn’t put me in the scene. With that caveat I’ll say that my impression was of a ceremony more like an Addams Family version of Disney World spectacle than actual worship of an owl deity. But that was good for me in the sense that it revealed something I might otherwise have missed.

My bias skews toward faith. But there were probably as many people participating in ancient fertility rites with as little faith in the deity represented or the rites practiced as the men at Bohemian Grove. They may have been there for the wine, women and song, or for business opportunities, or political advantage. Ezekiel alluded to a military alliance as the driving force behind Judah’s πορνεία.² Isn’t national security worth a trifling dalliance with the meaningless religious beliefs and practices of one’s powerful allies as a gesture of good faith and good manners? God, of course, perceived things differently.

Religious minds, and the religions they create, don’t value faith as much as conformity to—or at least acquiescence in the face of—traditional ritual. No matter how rich or successful or powerful the men who attend the July gathering at Bohemian Grove are, they are nothing compared to the longstanding tradition of the Cremation of Care ceremony. They can do nothing about it, nor protest it in any meaningful way—(some apparently avoid it by arriving late to the gathering)—without jeopardizing their positions as rich, successful, powerful men privileged to attend an expensive invitation-only event. You’re either on the bus or off the bus, Ken Kesey used to say to the Merry Pranksters in the halcyon days of LSD-induced enlightenment.

I’m not getting this idea about religious minds and conformity to ritual from Bohemian Grove, necessarily. It was more accessible to me there and then (here and now), than in the ancient past. It helped me to understand something about the false view of the world shared by the majority of the inhabitants of the southern kingdom Judah (Jeremiah 7:8b-10a NET):

You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you [Table]. You steal. You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods whom you have not previously known [Table]. Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, “We are safe!” [Table]

In other words, they paid the tithes, brought the offerings and sacrifices, and otherwise performed the rituals of the worship of God, but as the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, These people say they are loyal to me; they say wonderful things about me, but they are not really loyal to me. Their worship consists of nothing but man-made ritual.³ So if the story of Jephthah is a boundary stone marking one edge as it were of the religious mind—the extreme to which a man would go to avoid acknowledging sin—the above passage in Jeremiah is like a boundary stone marking the opposite edge—people who will admit to any and all sins in word and ritual but continue to indulge the very same sins,⁴ believing their words and rituals will save them somehow (or at least will do them no harm).

As far as the meaning of πορνεία is concerned I can come to know definitive conclusion. And this is why: Is a man witnessing the Cremation of Care ceremony at Bohemian Grove, a mock human sacrifice to an owl statue, guilty of πορνεία? Or must he put on a robe and participate? Or must he believe in the owl? Or must he have sex with a prostitute?

Well, what if he has sex with a prostitute without any connection to owl statues and Cremation of Care ceremonies? What about drunken sexual practices in general? It sounds like a bar on a Friday or Saturday night for those handsome enough, rich enough or charming enough to get lucky, minus the bloody sacrifice, of course, mock or earnest.

In the allegory in Ezekiel Oholah and Oholibah engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there.⁵ Does that mean two teenagers in the backseat of a car are guilty of πορνεία? If so, immorality is a fine translation of the word. But what does immorality mean? Isn’t that what is contrary to God’s law? So then unlawful marriage may be a good translation, too.

This kind of indecision frustrates me to no end when I’m searching the Bible for rules to obey. And I’ve done that and continue to do it at times. I have studied the Bible like a rule book with all the urgency and life-and-death anxiety that procedure engenders. Then I’ve searched for rules to justify or declare me righteous. Finally I’ve searched for rules that might bind God to me anyway. At that point I usually come to my senses if not before. Lex Deus (Law is God) as I call it is the most seductive form of idolatry to my upbringing and temperament.

When I actually believe that I am justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus⁶ and that the meaning of eternal life is that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent⁷ my anxiety level goes down as my time horizon expands. I’m comforted then by Paul’s insight, For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.⁸ It is not so burdensome then to plug these various ideas into each particular occurrence of πορνεία to see which fits with the only true God, and Jesus Christ I am beginning to know in part, in a mirror indirectly.

Section 2 – Introduction

Back to Religious and Righteous Prayer

Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 2

Back to Hannah’s Prayer, Part 3

¹ S.M. Baugh in an essay titled, “Cult Prostitution In New Testament Ephesus: A Reappraisal,” published in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society in 1999, denies that: “Despite the received opinion to the contrary, I do not believe that cult prostitution was practiced in Greek (and Roman) regions of the NT era. The evidence thought to support this institution in the cities of Corinth and Ephesus was found wanting in our brief survey of Strabo and a few other authors. Finally, we looked at some of the positive evidence from Ephesus to show that the priestesses of Artemis – wrongly thought by many today to be a fertility or mother goddess – were no more than daughters of noble families, whose terms of office involved them in the honorary public roles and the financial obligations which typified priestly offices in Greek state cults. A priestess of Artemis compares better with a Rose Bowl queen or with Miss Teen America than with a cult prostitute. Indeed, there are some hints in the literature (e.g. Xenophon of Ephesus) that the girl-priestesses may have been chosen because they best resembled the chaste maiden-goddess.”

² Ezekiel 23:5, 6, 12-15 (NET) πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) is the translation of תזנותיה (taznûṯ) in the Septuagint [See: Greek World, 18:53] in Ezekiel 23:14.

³ Isaiah 29:13 (NET) Table

⁴ Jeremiah 7:10b (NET) Table

⁵ Ezekiel 23:3 (NET) Table

⁶ Romans 3:24 (NET)

⁷ John 17:3 (NET)

⁸ 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NET)

Adultery in the Prophets, Part 3

Posted on June 4, 2012 by admin

Ezekiel, a priest, prophesied from Babylonia after the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive.¹ Ezekiel 23 is a history lesson from the Lord’s point of view told as an allegory (23:1-4 NET).

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. They engaged in prostitution (zānâ, ותזנינה) in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution (zānâ, זנו). Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there [see Addendum below]. Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.”

The key to the allegory is at the end of this passage above: Oholah stands for Samaria the former capital of the long-exiled northern kingdom of Israel. Oholibah stands for Jerusalem the capital of the more recently exiled southern kingdom of Judah (though Jerusalem was still inhabited at this particular time).² Oholah and Oholibah became the Lord’s at Sinai after the exodus from Egypt. Though I had missed it many times before, studying in this context helped me recognize that the people standing there that day were quite different than I had imagined previously.

According to Ezekiel’s prophetic allegory, in Egypt they had become accustomed to worship and sacrifice that included the drunken sexual practices of the nations around them. And it was to this that they returned when Moses tarried on the mountain. So they got up early on the next day and offered up burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.³

The Hebrew word translated to play (ṣāḥaq, לצחק) does not necessarily mean what I have suggested. But in light of the Lord’s testimony through Ezekiel I’m quite comfortable assuming that it is within the bounds of a euphemistic usage of the word. It was used to describe Isaac caressing (ṣāḥaq, מצחק) his wife Rebekah⁴ or sporting (ṣāḥaq) with Rebekah his wife⁵ in a manner that alerted Abimelech that she was in fact his wife and not his sister, as Isaac had said. And I sincerely doubt that Moses and the Levites strapped on swords, marched through the camp and killed three thousand men to break up the ancient equivalent of sack races, horseshoe matches and softball games.⁶

The Lord continued his allegorical history lesson through Ezekiel with a brief reprise of Oholah’s exploits (Ezekiel 23:5-10 NET):

Oholah engaged in prostitution (zānâ, ותזן) while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians – warriors clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her sexual favors (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired – with all their idols [see Addendum below]. She did not abandon the prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished (taznûṯ, תזנותם) her [see Addendum below]. Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.

This is a familiar tale from Hosea’s prophecies about the northern kingdom of Israel⁷ with an additional insight that the desire for a military alliance with the Assyrians may have been the justification for joining in cultic worship practices. And once again, just in case I missed it the first time (which I did many times), what Israel (Oholah) practiced and was judged for by war and captivity is the same practice that she did not abandon from her youth in Egypt.

Then Oholibah took center stage in the allegory (Ezekiel 23:11-21 NET):

Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) were more numerous than those of her sister [see Addendum below]. She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. But she increased her prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה). She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red [see Addendum below], wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea. When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust (taznûṯ, בתזנותם); after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them [see Addendum below]. When she lustfully (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister [see Addendum below]. Yet she increased her prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה), remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution (zānâ, זנתה) in the land of Egypt [see Addendum below]. She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. This is how you assessed the obscene (zimmâ, זמת) conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts.

Once again the idolatrous worship practices for which Judah was judged were equated to the obscene conduct of her youth in Egypt, just in case I missed it the first two times. If I plug this understanding into Matthew 5:32 (NET) and 19:9 (NET) as the meaning of πορνεία, I get the following:

Matthew 5:32 (NET)	Matthew 19:9 (NET)
I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for “idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices),” makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.	Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for “idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices),” and marries another commits adultery.

1) The meaning is limited and specific.

2) One party may be guilty while the other is innocent (unlike unlawful marriage which makes both parties guilty by definition).

3) It is in keeping with a major prophetic theme of God’s complaint against his chosen people.

4) It accounts for even the apparent permissiveness of Matthew 19:9 in that God himself divorced Israel over this kind of πορνεία,⁸ not immediately, but after centuries of practice with little, or no, or feigned confession and repentance.

On a personal note this study and its consequent understanding of porneia (πορνεία) lifts my thoughts out of the gutter of self-obsession, that God hates divorce to make my life perpetually miserable with a despised wife, or perpetually guilt-ridden because I have failed to keep a wife, twice (once when I was young and again many years later when I could not blame it on my youth). Rather, his hatred of divorce is yet another way to know⁹ Him. Paul took up this prophetic theme of marriage and divorce/adultery in Romans 7:1-6 (NET).

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress. So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.

How secure am I joined to the Lord Jesus in this way? “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel…¹⁰ And Jesus said, Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.¹¹ Only continual flagrant idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices) compelled God to divorce his beloved. If this is what Jesus, Paul and the New Testament writers meant by πορνεία, it fits amazingly well into the fabric of the Bible’s prophetic writings. But could Jesus have still been concerned about this particular kind of πορνεία? in the first century? in Judea?

Addendum: January 25, 2022
While the English translations of the Masoretic text of Ezekiel 23:3 made the sisters’ prostitution sound like heavy petting, the English translations of the Septuagint were more direct.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:3 (Tanakh/KJV)	Ezekiel 23:3 (NET)	Ezekiel 23:3 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:3 (Elpenor English)
And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed (מֹֽעֲכ֣וּ), and there they bruised (עִשּׂ֔וּ) the teats (דַּדֵּ֖י) of their virginity.	They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed (māʿaḵ, מעכו) there; lovers fondled (ʿāśâ, עשׁו) their virgin nipples (daḏ, דדי) there.	And they played the whore in Egypt in their youth; there their breasts fell (ἔπεσον); there they lost their virginity (διεπαρθενεύθησαν).	and they went a-whoring in Egypt in their youth: there their breasts fell (ἔπεσον), there they lost their virginity (διεπαρθενεύθησαν).

I won’t spend the time here to explore whether the rabbis understood they bruised (עִשּׂ֔וּ) the teats (דַּדֵּ֖י) of their virginity (Tanakh) as an idiom or euphemism for they lost their virginity (διεπαρθενεύθησαν, a form of διαπαρθενεύω) or if the Masoretes altered the Hebrew text.

In Ezekiel 23:7 below the Hebrew word תַּזְנוּתֶ֙יהָ֙ (taznûṯ), whoredoms (Tanakh, KJV), sexual favors (NET), was translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία), whoring (NETS), fornication (English Elpenor), in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:7 (Tanakh/KJV)	Ezekiel 23:7 (NET)	Ezekiel 23:7 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:7 (Elpenor English)
Thus she committed her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֙יהָ֙) with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.	She bestowed her sexual favors (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired—with all their idols.	And she granted her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) to them; they were all the chosen sons of Assyrians, and she was defiling herself upon all, upon whom she laid herslef, with all her notions.	And she bestowed her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) upon them; all were choice sons of the Assyrians: and on whomsoever she doted herself, with them she defiled herself in all [their] devices.

In Ezekiel 23:8 below it seems more likely that they bruised (עִשּׂ֖וּ) the breasts (דַּדֵּ֣י) of her virginity (Tanakh, KJV) was understood as an idiom or euphemism for they took her virginity (διεπαρθένευσαν, a form of διαπαρθενεύω) by the rabbis who translated the Septuagint. And both תַּזְנוּתֶ֚יהָ, whoredoms (Tanakh, KJV), and תַזְנוּתָ֖ם, whoredom (Tanakh, KJV), were translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία).

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:8 (Tanakh/KJV)	Ezekiel 23:8 (NET)	Ezekiel 23:8 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:8 (Elpenor English)
Neither left she her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֚יהָ) brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised (עִשּׂ֖וּ) the breasts (דַּדֵּ֣י) of her virginity, and poured their whoredom (תַזְנוּתָ֖ם) upon her.	She did not abandon the prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) she had practiced in Egypt, for in her youth men went to bed with her, fondled (ʿāśâ, עשׁו) her virgin breasts (daḏ, דדי), and ravished (taznûṯ, תזנותם) her.	And she did not give up her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) from Egypt, for they were lying with her in her youth, and they took her virginity (διεπαρθένευσαν) and poured out their whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῶν) upon her.	And she forsook not her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) with the Egyptians: for in her youth they committed fornication with her, and they deflowered (διεπαρθένευσαν) her, and poured out their fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῶν) upon her.

In Ezekiel 23:11 both תַּזְנוּתֶ֔יהָ (taznûṯ) and מִזְּנוּנֵ֖ (zᵊnûnîm) were translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:11 (Tanakh/KJV)	Ezekiel 23:11 (NET)	Ezekiel 23:11 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:11 (Elpenor English)
And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֔יהָ) more than her sister in her whoredoms (מִזְּנוּנֵ֖י).	“Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) were more numerous than those (zᵊnûnîm, מזנוני) of her sister.	And her sister, Ooliba, saw and was corrupting her aggression beyond her and her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) beyond the whoring (τὴν πορνείαν) of her sister.	And her sister Ooliba saw [it], and she indulged in her fondness more corruptly than she, and in her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) more than the fornication (τὴν πορνείαν) of her sister.

In Ezekiel 23:14 תַּזְנוּתֶ֑יהָ (taznûṯ) was translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:14 (Tanakh/KJV)	Ezekiel 23:14 (NET)	Ezekiel 23:14 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:14 (Elpenor English)
And that she increased her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֑יהָ): for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,	But she increased her prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה). She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red,	And she added to her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς), and she saw men painted upon the wall, images of the Chaldeans, painted by brush,	And she increased her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς), and she saw men painted on the wall, likenesses of the Chaldeans painted with a pencil,

In Ezekiel 23:17 בְּתַזְנוּתָ֑ם (taznûṯ) was translated πορνείᾳ in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:17 (Tanakh/KJV)	Ezekiel 23:17 (NET)	Ezekiel 23:17 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:17 (Elpenor English)
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom (בְּתַזְנוּתָ֑ם), and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.	The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust (taznûṯ, בתזנותם); after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.	And the sons of Babylon came to her for a bed of lodgers, and they were defiling her in her whoring (τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς), and she was defiled with them, and her soul recoiled from them.	And the sons of Babylon came to her, into the bed of rest, and they defiled her in her fornication (τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς), and she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them.

In Ezekiel 23:18 תַּזְנוּתֶ֔יהָ (taznûṯ) was translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:18 (Tanakh/KJV)	Ezekiel 23:18 (NET)	Ezekiel 23:18 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:18 (Elpenor English)
So she discovered her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֔יהָ), and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.	When she lustfully (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister.	And she uncovered her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) and uncovered her shame, and my soul recoiled from her, as my soul recoiled from her sister.	And she exposed her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς), and exposed her shame: and my soul was alienated from her, even as my soul was alienated from her sister.

In Ezekiel 23:19 תַּזְנוּתֶ֑יהָ (taznûṯ) was translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) and זָֽנְתָ֖ה (zānâ) with the verb ἐπόρνευσας a form of πορνεύω) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:19 (Tanakh/KJV)	Ezekiel 23:19 (NET)	Ezekiel 23:19 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:19 (Elpenor English)
Yet she multiplied her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֑יהָ), in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot (זָֽנְתָ֖ה) in the land of Egypt.	Yet she increased her prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה), remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution (zānâ, זנתה) in the land of Egypt.	And you multiplied your whoring (τὴν πορνείαν σου) to remind them of the days of your youth when you whored (ἐπόρνευσας) in Egypt,	And thou didst multiply thy fornication (τὴν πορνείαν σου), so as to call to remembrance the days of thy youth, wherein thou didst commit whoredom (ἐπόρνευσας) in Egypt,

Tables comparing Ezekiel 23:1; 23:2; 23:3; 23:4; Genesis 26:8; Ezekiel 23:5; 23:6; 23:7; 23:8; 23:9; 23:10; 23:11; 23:12; 23:13; 23:14; 23:15; 23:16; 23:17; 23:18; 23:19; 23:20 and 23:21 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Ezekiel 23:1; 23:2; 23:3; 23:4; Genesis 26:8; Ezekiel 23:5; 23:6; 23:7; 23:8; 23:9; 23:10; 23:11; 23:12; 23:13; 23:14; 23:15; 23:16; 23:17; 23:18; 23:19; 23:20 and 23:21 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Ezekiel 23:1 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:1 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:1 (NET)
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,	The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,	The Lord’s message came to me:

Ezekiel 23:1 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων	ΚΑΙ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με λέγων
Ezekiel 23:1 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:1 (English Elpenor)
And a word of the Lord came to me, saying:	And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 23:2 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:2 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:2 (NET)
Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:	Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:	“Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother.

Ezekiel 23:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου δύο γυναῗκες ἦσαν θυγατέρες μητρὸς μιᾶς	υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, δύο γυναῖκες ἦσαν θυγατέρες μητρὸς μιᾶς
Ezekiel 23:2 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:2 (English Elpenor)
Son of man, two women were daughters of one mother,	Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother:

Ezekiel 23:3 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:3 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:3 (NET)
And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.	And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.	They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there.

Ezekiel 23:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐν τῇ νεότητι αὐτῶν ἐκεῗ ἔπεσον οἱ μαστοὶ αὐτῶν ἐκεῗ διεπαρθενεύθησαν	καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐν τῇ νεότητι αὐτῶν· ἐκεῖ ἔπεσον οἱ μαστοὶ αὐτῶν, ἐκεῖ διεπαρθενεύθησαν
Ezekiel 23:3 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:3 (English Elpenor)
And they played the whore in Egypt in their youth; there their breasts fell; there they lost their virginity.	and they went a-whoring in Egypt in their youth: there their breasts fell, there they lost their virginity.

Ezekiel 23:4 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:4 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:4 (NET)
And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.	And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.	Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister. They became mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 23:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἦν Οολα ἡ πρεσβυτέρα καὶ Οολιβα ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς καὶ ἐγένοντό μοι καὶ ἔτεκον υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν Σαμάρεια ἡ Οολα καὶ Ιερουσαλημ ἡ Οολιβα	καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἦν ᾿Οολὰ ἡ πρεσβυτέρα καὶ ᾿Οολιβὰ ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς. καὶ ἐγένοντό μοι καὶ ἔτεκον υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν· Σαμάρεια ἦν ᾿Οολὰ καὶ ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ ἦν ᾿Οολιβά
Ezekiel 23:4 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:4 (English Elpenor)
And their names were Oola the elder and Ooliba her sister. And they became mine and bore sons and daughters. As for their names: Oola was Samaria, and Ooliba was Ierousalem.	And their names were Oola the elder, and Ooliba her sister: and they were mine, and bore sons and daughters: and [as for] their names, Samaria was Oola, and Jerusalem was Ooliba.

Genesis 26:8 (Tanakh)	Genesis 26:8 (KJV)	Genesis 26:8 (NET)
And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.	And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.	After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

Genesis 26:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Genesis 26:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐγένετο δὲ πολυχρόνιος ἐκεῗ παρακύψας δὲ Αβιμελεχ ὁ βασιλεὺς Γεραρων διὰ τῆς θυρίδος εἶδεν τὸν Ισαακ παίζοντα μετὰ Ρεβεκκας τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ	ἐγένετο δὲ πολυχρόνιος ἐκεῖ· καὶ παρακύψας ᾿Αβιμέλεχ ὁ βασιλεὺς Γεράρων διὰ τῆς θυρίδος, εἶδε τὸν ᾿Ισαὰκ παίζοντα μετὰ Ρεβέκκας τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ
Genesis 26:8 (NETS)	Genesis 26:8 (English Elpenor)
And he stayed on there quite some time. Now Abimelech the king of Gerara, when he peered through the window, saw Isaak playing around with his wife Rebekka.	And he remained there a long time, and Abimelech the king of Gerara leaned to look through the window, and saw Isaac sporting with Rebecca his wife.

Ezekiel 23:5 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:5 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:5 (NET)
And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,	And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,	“Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

Ezekiel 23:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσεν ἡ Οολα ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ καὶ ἐπέθετο ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐραστὰς αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους τοὺς ἐγγίζοντας αὐτῇ	καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσεν ἡ ᾿Οολὰ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ καὶ ἐπέθετο ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐραστὰς αὐτῆς, ἐπὶ τοὺς ᾿Ασσυρίους τοὺς ἐγγίζοντας αὐτῇ
Ezekiel 23:5 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:5 (English Elpenor)
And Oola played the whore away from me and laid herself upon her lovers, upon the Assyrians who were coming near to her	And Oola went a-whoring from me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that were her neighbors

Ezekiel 23:6 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:6 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:6 (NET)
Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.	Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.	clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

Ezekiel 23:6 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐνδεδυκότας ὑακίνθινα ἡγουμένους καὶ στρατηγούς νεανίσκοι ἐπίλεκτοι πάντες ἱππεῗς ἱππαζόμενοι ἐφ᾽ ἵππων	ἐνδεδυκότας ὑακίνθινα, ἡγουμένους καὶ στρατηγούς· νεανίσκοι καὶ ἐπίλεκτοι πάντες, ἱππεῖς ἱππαζόμενοι ἐφ’ ἵππων
Ezekiel 23:6 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:6 (English Elpenor)
clothed in blue, governors and commanders. They were all elite young men, horsemen riding upon horses.	clothed with purple, princes and captains; [they were] young men and choice, all horseman riding on horses.

Ezekiel 23:7 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:7 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:7 (NET)
Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.	Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.	She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired—with all their idols.

Ezekiel 23:7 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔδωκεν τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς ἐπίλεκτοι υἱοὶ Ἀσσυρίων πάντες καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας οὓς ἐπέθετο ἐν πᾶσι τοῗς ἐνθυμήμασιν αὐτῆς ἐμιαίνετο	καὶ ἔδωκε τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ἐπ’ αὐτούς· ἐπίλεκτοι υἱοὶ ᾿Ασσυρίων πάντες, καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας, οὓς ἐπέθετο, ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐνθυμήμασιν αὐτοῖς ἐμιαίνετο
Ezekiel 23:7 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:7 (English Elpenor)
And she granted her whoring to them; they were all the chosen sons of Assyrians, and she was defiling herself upon all, upon whom she laid herslef, with all her notions.	And she bestowed her fornication upon them; all were choice sons of the Assyrians: and on whomsoever she doted herself, with them she defiled herself in all [their] devices.

Ezekiel 23:8 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:8 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:8 (NET)
Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.	Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.	She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt, for in her youth men went to bed with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her.

Ezekiel 23:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου οὐκ ἐγκατέλιπεν ὅτι μετ᾽ αὐτῆς ἐκοιμῶντο ἐν νεότητι αὐτῆς καὶ αὐτοὶ διεπαρθένευσαν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐξέχεαν τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῶν ἐπ᾽ αὐτήν	καὶ τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου οὐκ ἐγκατέλιπεν, ὅτι μετ’ αὐτῆς ἐκοιμῶντο ἐν νεότητι αὐτῆς, καὶ αὐτοὶ διεπαρθένευσαν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐξέχεαν τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῶν ἐπ’ αὐτήν
Ezekiel 23:8 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:8 (English Elpenor)
And she did not give up her whoring from Egypt, for they were lying with her in her youth, and they took her virginity and poured out their whoring upon her.	And she forsook not her fornication with the Egyptians: for in her youth they committed fornication with her, and they deflowered her, and poured out their fornication upon her.

Ezekiel 23:9 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:9 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:9 (NET)
Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.	Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.	Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

Ezekiel 23:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
διὰ τοῦτο παρέδωκα αὐτὴν εἰς χεῗρας τῶν ἐραστῶν αὐτῆς εἰς χεῗρας υἱῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἐφ᾽ οὓς ἐπετίθετο	διὰ τοῦτο παρέδωκα αὐτὴν εἰς χεῖρας τῶν ἐραστῶν αὐτῆς, εἰς χεῖρας υἱῶν ᾿Ασσυρίων, ἐφ’ οὓς ἐπετίθετο
Ezekiel 23:9 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:9 (English Elpenor)
Therefore, I gave her over into the hands of her lovers, into hands of the sons of Assyrians upon whom she was laying herself.	Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the children of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.

Ezekiel 23:10 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:10 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:10 (NET)
These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.	These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.	They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.

Ezekiel 23:10 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
αὐτοὶ ἀπεκάλυψαν τὴν αἰσχύνην αὐτῆς υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας αὐτῆς ἔλαβον καὶ αὐτὴν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ ἀπέκτειναν καὶ ἐγένετο λάλημα εἰς γυναῗκας καὶ ἐποίησαν ἐκδικήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ εἰς τὰς θυγατέρας	αὐτοὶ ἀπεκάλυψαν τὴν αἰσχύνην αὐτῆς, υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας αὐτῆς ἔλαβον καὶ αὐτὴν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ ἀπέκτειναν. καὶ ἐγένετο λάλημα εἰς γυναῖκας, καὶ ἐποίησαν ἐκδικήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ εἰς τὰς θυγατέρας
Ezekiel 23:10 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:10 (English Elpenor)
They uncovered her shame; they took her sons and daughters and killed her by sword, and she became prattle for women, and they executed judgment against her upon her daughters.	They uncovered her shame: they took her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became a byword among women: and they wrought vengeance in her for the sake of the daughters.

Ezekiel 23:11 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:11 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:11 (NET)
And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.	And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.	“Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.

Ezekiel 23:11 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶδεν ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς Οολιβα καὶ διέφθειρε τὴν ἐπίθεσιν αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ τὴν πορνείαν τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς	Καὶ εἶδεν ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς ᾿Οολιβὰ καὶ διέφθειρε τὴν ἐπίθεσιν αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ τὴν πορνείαν τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς
Ezekiel 23:11 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:11 (English Elpenor)
And her sister, Ooliba, saw and was corrupting her aggression beyond her and her whoring beyond the whoring of her sister.	And her sister Ooliba saw [it], and she indulged in her fondness more corruptly than she, and in her fornication more than the fornication of her sister.

Ezekiel 23:12 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:12 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:12 (NET)
She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.	She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.	She lusted after the Assyrians—governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

Ezekiel 23:12 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἐπέθετο ἡγουμένους καὶ στρατηγοὺς τοὺς ἐγγὺς αὐτῆς ἐνδεδυκότας εὐπάρυφα ἱππεῗς ἱππαζομένους ἐφ᾽ ἵππων νεανίσκοι ἐπίλεκτοι πάντες	ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ᾿Ασσυρίων ἐπέθετο, ἡγουμένους καὶ στρατηγοὺς τοὺς ἐγγὺς αὐτῆς ἐνδεδυκότας εὐπάρυφα, ἱππεῖς ἱππαζομένους ἐφ’ ἵππων· νεανίσκοι ἐπίλεκτοι πάντες
Ezekiel 23:12 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:12 (English Elpenor)
She applied herself to the sons of Assyrians, governors and commanders near her, wearing fine purple, horsemen riding upon horses. They were all elite young men.	She doted upon the sons of the Assyrian, princes and captains, her neighbours, clothed with fine linen, horsemen riding on horses; [they were] all choice young men.

Ezekiel 23:13 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:13 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:13 (NET)
Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,	Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,	I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path.

Ezekiel 23:13 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶδον ὅτι μεμίανται ὁδὸς μία τῶν δύο	καὶ εἶδον ὅτι μεμίανται· ὁδὸς μία τῶν δύο
Ezekiel 23:13 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:13 (English Elpenor)
And I saw that she had been defiled, one way for the two.	And I saw that they were defiled, [that] the two [had] one way.

Ezekiel 23:14 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:14 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:14 (NET)
And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,	And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,	But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red,

Ezekiel 23:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ προσέθετο πρὸς τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς καὶ εἶδεν ἄνδρας ἐζωγραφημένους ἐπὶ τοῦ τοίχου εἰκόνας Χαλδαίων ἐζωγραφημένους ἐν γραφίδι	καὶ προσέθετο πρὸς τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς καὶ εἶδεν ἄνδρας ἐζωγραφημένους ἐπὶ τοῦ τοίχου, εἰκόνας Χαλδαίων, ἐζωγραφημένους ἐν γραφίδι
Ezekiel 23:14 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:14 (English Elpenor)
And she added to her whoring, and she saw men painted upon the wall, images of the Chaldeans, painted by brush,	And she increased her fornication, and she saw men painted on the wall, likenesses of the Chaldeans painted with a pencil,

Ezekiel 23:15 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:15 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:15 (NET)
Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:	Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:	wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea.

Ezekiel 23:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐζωσμένους ποικίλματα ἐπὶ τὰς ὀσφύας αὐτῶν καὶ τιάραι βαπταὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κεφαλῶν αὐτῶν ὄψις τρισσὴ πάντων ὁμοίωμα υἱῶν Χαλδαίων γῆς πατρίδος αὐτῶν	ἐζωσμένους ποικίλματα ἐπὶ τὰς ὀσφύας αὐτῶν, καὶ τιάραι βαπταὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κεφαλῶν αὐτῶν, ὄψις τρισσὴ πάντων, ὁμοίωμα υἱῶν Χαλδαίων, γῆς πατρίδος αὐτῶν
Ezekiel 23:15 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:15 (English Elpenor)
girded with brocades upon their loins and dyed tiaras on their heads; all had a triple aspect, a likeness of sons of Chaldeans of their native land.	having variegated girdles on their loins, having also richly dyed [attire] upon their heads; all had a princely appearance, the likeness of the children of the Chaldeans, of their native land.

Ezekiel 23:16 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:16 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:16 (NET)
And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.	And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.	When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

Ezekiel 23:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐπέθετο ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς τῇ ὁράσει ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῆς καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν ἀγγέλους πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἰς γῆν Χαλδαίων	καὶ ἐπέθετο ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς τῇ ὁράσει ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῆς καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν ἀγγέλους πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἰς γῆν Χαλδαίων
Ezekiel 23:16 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:16 (English Elpenor)
And she applied herself to them in the vision of her eyes and sent out messengers to them into the land of the Chaldeans.	And she doted upon them as soon as she saw them, and sent forth messengers to them into the land of the Chaldeans.

Ezekiel 23:17 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:17 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:17 (NET)
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.	And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.	The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.

Ezekiel 23:17 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἤλθοσαν πρὸς αὐτὴν υἱοὶ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς κοίτην καταλυόντων καὶ ἐμίαινον αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς καὶ ἐμιάνθη ἐν αὐτοῗς καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῆς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν	καὶ ἤλθοσαν πρὸς αὐτὴν υἱοὶ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς κοίτην καταλυόντων καὶ ἐμίαινον αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐμιάνθη ἐν αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῆς ἀπ’ αὐτῶν
Ezekiel 23:17 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:17 (English Elpenor)
And the sons of Babylon came to her for a bed of lodgers, and they were defiling her in her whoring, and she was defiled with them, and her soul recoiled from them.	And the sons of Babylon came to her, into the bed of rest, and they defiled her in her fornication, and she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them.

Ezekiel 23:18 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:18 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:18 (NET)
So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.	So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.	When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister.

Ezekiel 23:18 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἀπεκάλυψεν τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς καὶ ἀπεκάλυψεν τὴν αἰσχύνην αὐτῆς καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς ὃν τρόπον ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπὸ τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς	καί ἀπεκάλυψε τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς καὶ ἀπεκάλυψεν αἰσχύνην αὐτῆς, καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπ’ αὐτῆς, ὃν τρόπον ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπὸ τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς
Ezekiel 23:18 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:18 (English Elpenor)
And she uncovered her whoring and uncovered her shame, and my soul recoiled from her, as my soul recoiled from her sister.	And she exposed her fornication, and exposed her shame: and my soul was alienated from her, even as my soul was alienated from her sister.

Ezekiel 23:19 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:19 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:19 (NET)
Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.	Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.	Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 23:19 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐπλήθυνας τὴν πορνείαν σου τοῦ ἀναμνῆσαι ἡμέρας νεότητός σου ἐν αἷς ἐπόρνευσας ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ	καὶ ἐπλήθυνας τὴν πορνείαν σου τοῦ ἀναμνῆσαι ἡμέραν νεότητός σου, ἐν αἷς ἐπόρνευσας ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ
Ezekiel 23:19 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:19 (English Elpenor)
And you multiplied your whoring to remind them of the days of your youth when you whored in Egypt,	And thou didst multiply thy fornication, so as to call to remembrance the days of thy youth, wherein thou didst commit whoredom in Egypt,

Ezekiel 23:20 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:20 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:20 (NET)
For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.	For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.	She lusted after her lovers there, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.

Ezekiel 23:20 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:20 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐπέθου ἐπὶ τοὺς Χαλδαίους ὧν ἦσαν ὡς ὄνων αἱ σάρκες αὐτῶν καὶ αἰδοῗα ἵππων τὰ αἰδοῗα αὐτῶν	καὶ ἐπέθου ἐπὶ τοὺς Χαλδαίους, ὧν ὡς ὄνων αἱ σάρκες αὐτῶν καὶ αἰδοῖα ἵππων τὰ αἰδοῖα αὐτῶν
Ezekiel 23:20 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:20 (English Elpenor)
and you applied yourself to the Chaldeans, whose flesh was like that of donkeys and their privates were privates of horses.	and thou didst dote upon the Chaldeans, whose flesh is as the flesh of the asses, and their members [as] the members of horses.

Ezekiel 23:21 (Tanakh)	Ezekiel 23:21 (KJV)	Ezekiel 23:21 (NET)
Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.	Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.	This is how you assessed the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts.

Ezekiel 23:21 (Septuagint BLB)	Ezekiel 23:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐπεσκέψω τὴν ἀνομίαν νεότητός σου ἃ ἐποίεις ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐν τῷ καταλύματί σου οὗ οἱ μαστοὶ νεότητός σου	καὶ ἐπεσκέψω τὴν ἀνομίαν νεότητός σου, ἃ ἐποίεις ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐν τῷ καταλύματί σου, οὗ οἱ μαστοὶ νεότητός σου
Ezekiel 23:21 (NETS)	Ezekiel 23:21 (English Elpenor)
And you reflected upon the lawlessness of your youth, what you used to do in Egypt in your lodging, where the breasts of your youth were.	And thou didst look upon the iniquity of thy youth, [the things] which thou wroughtest in Egypt in thy lodgings, where were the breasts of thy youth.

Section One – Conclusion

Back to Romans, Part 2

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 5

Back to Fear – Exodus, Part 7

Back to Who Am I? Part 5

Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 14

Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 4

¹ Ezekiel 1:1-3

² 2 Kings 24:10-17 (NET)

³ Exodus 32:6 (NET) Table

⁴ Genesis 26:8 (NET)

⁵ Genesis 26:8 (KJV)

⁶ Exodus 32:25-29 (NET)

⁷ Hosea 4:11-14 (NET)

⁸ Jeremiah 3:8 (NET)

⁹ John 17:3 (NET)

¹⁰ Malachi 2:16a (NET) Table

¹¹ Matthew 19:6b (NET)

Adultery in the Prophets, Part 2

Posted on June 1, 2012 by admin

If I look now at the word group from which πορνεία is derived the idea that Jesus, Paul and the New Testament writers had idolatrous worship with its drunken sexual practices in mind when they used it, is not as strange as it first sounded. Here are the words as they are listed and defined in Strong’s Concordance:

G4205 πόρνος pornos por’-nos From πέρνημι pernēmi (to sell; akin to the base of G4097); a (male) prostitute (as venal), that is, (by analogy) a debauchee (libertine):—fornicator, whoremonger.

From πόρνος comes the feminine πόρνη.

G4204 πόρνη pornē por’-nay Feminine of G4205; a strumpet; figuratively an idolater:—harlot, whore.

From πόρνη comes the verb πορνεύω.

G4203 πορνεύω porneuō porn-yoo’-o From G4204; to act the harlot, that is, (literally) indulge unlawful lust (of either sex), or (figuratively) practise idolatry:—commit (fornication).

And finally from the verb πορνεύω, the activity of πόρνος and πόρνη, comes the noun πορνεία.

G4202 πορνεία porneia por-ni’-ah From G4203; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively idolatry:—fornication.

I left the narrative of adultery in the Prophets with God’s warning to the southern kingdom of Judah not to follow in the footsteps of the northern kingdom of Israel. Although you, O Israel, commit adultery (zānâ, זנה), do not let Judah become guilty!¹ I pick up the thread again later in the southern kingdom of Judah with the prophet Jeremiah (3:6-11 NET):

When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward (mᵊšûḇâ, משבה) Israel has done. You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute (zānâ, ותזני; Greek: ἐπόρνευσαν, a form of πορνεύω) to other gods [Table]. Yet even after she had done [Greek: πορνεῦσαι, another form of πορνεύω] all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful (bāḡôḏ, בגודה) Judah, saw what she did [Table]. She also saw that I gave wayward (mᵊšûḇâ, משבה) Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous (nā’ap̄, נאפה) worship of other gods. Even after her unfaithful (bāḡaḏ, בגדה) sister Judah had seen this, she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute (zānâ, ותזן; Greek: ἐπόρνευσε[ν], another form of πορνεύω) to other gods [Table]. Because she took her prostitution (zᵊnûṯ, זנותה; Greek: πορνεία) so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous (nā’ap̄, ותנאף) worship of gods made of wood and stone [Table]. In spite of all this, Israel’s sister, unfaithful (bāḡôḏ, בגודה) Judah, has not turned back (šûḇ, שבה)² to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” says the Lord [Table]. Then the Lord said to me, “Under the circumstances, wayward (mᵊšûḇâ, משבה) Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful (bāḡaḏ, מבגדה) Judah [Table].

Judah like Israel engaged in idolatrous worship, which was not merely figurative adultery but involved worshippers in actual sexual sacrifices with both professional cultic prostitutes and eager amateurs at festivals (Jeremiah 5:7-9 NET).

The Lord asked, “How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem [capital of the southern kingdom of Judah]? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife (nā’ap̄, וינאפו) to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes (zānâ, זונה; Greek: πορνῶν, a form of πόρνη). They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor’s wife. I will surely punish (pāqaḏ, אפקד) them for doing such things!” says the Lord. “I will surely bring retribution (nāqam, תתנקם) on such a nation as this!”

This led to a false view of the world (Jeremiah 7:8-11 NET):

But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you. You steal (gānaḇ, הגנב). You murder (rāṣaḥ, רצח). You commit adultery (nā’ap̄, ונאף). You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods whom you have not previously known. Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins (tôʿēḇâ, התועבות)! Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers (pārîṣ, פרצים)? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

There were prophets in Jerusalem who encouraged the people to continue in these hateful sins, or abominations³ (Jeremiah 23:13-18 NET).

The Lord says, “I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something that was disgusting. They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray. But I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful (nā’ap̄, נאוף; Greek: μοιχωμένους, a form of μοιχάω) to me and continually prophesy lies. So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. So then I, the Lord who rules over all, have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason that ungodliness (ḥănupâ, חנפה) has spread throughout the land.’” The Lord who rules over all says to the people of Jerusalem: “Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own imaginations, not something the Lord has given them to say. They continually say to those who reject what the Lord has said, ‘Things will go well for you!’ They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you [See Addendum below]!’ Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle so they could see and hear what he has to say? Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?”

People wanted to kill Jeremiah for the things he prophesied. Then the Lord told me about some men from Anathoth who were threatening to kill me. They had threatened, “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!”⁴ As a matter of fact, even your own brothers and the members of your own family have betrayed you too. Even they have plotted to do away with you. So do not trust them even when they say kind things to you.⁵ But I’m quoting from Jeremiah’s prophecies because they were preserved in Hebrew Scripture. Jeremiah’s prophecies of judgment and destruction came to pass. The prophecies of those who said, Things will go well for you, and, Nothing bad will happen to you, did not.

Addendum: January 7, 2022
There is a clause in the Septuagint not found in the Masoretic text of Jeremiah 23:17.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Jeremiah 23:17 (Tanakh/KJV)	Jeremiah 23:17 (NET)	Jeremiah 23:17 (NETS)	Jeremiah 23:17 (Elpenor English)
They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination (בִּשְׁרִר֚וּת) of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.	They continually say to those who reject what the Lord has said [note 56], ‘Things will go well for you!’ They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations (šᵊrîrûṯ, בשררות) of their own hearts, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’	They say to those who reject the word of the Lord, “There shall be peace for you,” and to all who walk by their own will (τοῗς θελήμασιν αὐτῶν), [to every one who walks by the error (πλάνῃ) of his own heart,] they said, “No evil shall come upon you”—	They say to them that reject the word of the Lord, There shall be peace to you; and to all that walk after their own lusts (τοῖς θελήμασιν αὐτῶν), and to everyone that walks in the error (πλάνῃ) of his heart, they have said, No evil shall come upon thee.

The Greek word translated will (NETS) and lusts (English Elpenor) above was the noun θελήμασιν, a form of θέλημα. In Jesus’ purpose statement recorded by John below will was θέλημα, and again in Luke’s account of what is arguably the essence of Jesus’ relationship to God his Father. The other Gospel writers chose the related verb θέλω for this same prayer.

John 6:38 (NET) Table	Luke 22:42 (NET) Table	Matthew 26:39 (NET) Table	Mark 14:36 (NET)
For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will (θέλημα) but the will (θέλημα) of the one who sent me.	“Father, if you are willing (βούλει), take this cup away from me. Yet not my will (θέλημα) but yours be done.”	Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass⁶ from me! Yet not what I will (θέλω), but what you will.”	He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will (θέλω), but what you will.”

It is interesting to note that the clause καὶ πᾶσι(ν) τοῗς πορευομένοις τοῗς θελήμασιν αὐτῶν (NETS: and to all who walk by their own will) was apparently in the Hebrew Scriptures when the rabbis translated them into Greek before Jesus was born, and absent from the Masoretes’ edit of the Scriptures after Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah.

Tables comparing Jeremiah 5:7; 5:8; 5:9; 7:8; 7:9; 7:10; 7:11; 23:13; 23:14; 23:15; 23:16; 23:17; 23:18; 11:21 and 12:6 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Jeremiah 5:7; 5:8; 5:9; 7:8; 7:9; 7:10; 7:11; 23:13; 23:14; 23:15; 23:16; 23:17; 23:18; 11:21 and 12:6 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Jeremiah 5:7 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 5:7 (KJV)	Jeremiah 5:7 (NET)
How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.	How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.	The Lord asked, “How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.

Jeremiah 5:7 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 5:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ποίᾳ τούτων ἵλεως γένωμαί σοι οἱ υἱοί σου ἐγκατέλιπόν με καὶ ὤμνυον ἐν τοῗς οὐκ οὖσιν θεοῗς καὶ ἐχόρτασα αὐτούς καὶ ἐμοιχῶντο καὶ ἐν οἴκοις πορνῶν κατέλυον	ποίᾳ τούτων ἵλεως γένωμαί σοι; οἱ υἱοί σου ἐγκατέλιπόν με καὶ ὤμνυον ἐν τοῖς οὐκ οὖσι θεοῖς· καὶ ἐχόρτασα αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐμοιχῶντο καὶ ἐν οἴκοις πορνῶν κατέλυον
Jeremiah 5:7 (NETS)	Jeremiah 5:7 (English Elpenor)
For which of these should I be merciful to you? Your sons have forsaken me and would swear by those who are no gods. And I fed them, and they were committing adultery and would lodge in houses of prostitutes.	In what [way] shall I forgive thee for these things? Thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: and I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and lodged in harlots’ houses.

Jeremiah 5:8 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 5:8 (KJV)	Jeremiah 5:8 (NET)
They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.	They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.	They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor’s wife.

Jeremiah 5:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 5:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἵπποι θηλυμανεῗς ἐγενήθησαν ἕκαστος ἐπὶ τὴν γυναῗκα τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ ἐχρεμέτιζον	ἵπποι θηλυμανεῖς ἐγενήθησαν, ἕκαστος ἐπὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ ἐχρεμέτιζον
Jeremiah 5:8 (NETS)	Jeremiah 5:8 (English Elpenor)
They were lusty stallions, each neighing for his fellow’s wife.	They became as wanton horses: they neighed each one after his neighbour’s wife.

Jeremiah 5:9 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 5:9 (KJV)	Jeremiah 5:9 (NET)
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?	Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?	I will surely punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord. “I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!”

Jeremiah 5:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 5:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
μὴ ἐπὶ τούτοις οὐκ ἐπισκέψομαι λέγει κύριος ἢ ἐν ἔθνει τοιούτῳ οὐκ ἐκδικήσει ἡ ψυχή μου	μὴ ἐπὶ τούτοις οὐκ ἐπισκέψομαι; λέγει Κύριος. ἢ ἐν ἔθνει τοιούτῳ οὐκ ἐκδικήσει ἡ ψυχή μου
Jeremiah 5:9 (NETS)	Jeremiah 5:9 (English Elpenor)
Surely I shall not fail to visit for these things? says the Lord, or shall my soul not take vengeance on such a nation?	Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this.

Jeremiah 7:8 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 7:8 (KJV)	Jeremiah 7:8 (NET)
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.	Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.	“‘But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you.

Jeremiah 7:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 7:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἰ δὲ ὑμεῗς πεποίθατε ἐπὶ λόγοις ψευδέσιν ὅθεν οὐκ ὠφεληθήσεσθε	εἰ δὲ ὑμεῖς πεποίθατε ἐπὶ λόγοις ψευδέσιν, ὅθεν οὐκ ὠφεληθήσεσθε
Jeremiah 7:9 (NETS)	Jeremiah 7:9 (English Elpenor)
But if you trust in deceptive words, whereby you will not benefit,	But whereas ye have trusted in lying words, whereby ye shall not be profited;

Jeremiah 7:9 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 7:9 (KJV)	Jeremiah 7:9 (NET)
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;	Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;	You steal. You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods whom you have not previously known.

Jeremiah 7:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 7:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ φονεύετε καὶ μοιχᾶσθε καὶ κλέπτετε καὶ ὀμνύετε ἐπ᾽ ἀδίκῳ καὶ ἐθυμιᾶτε τῇ Βααλ καὶ ἐπορεύεσθε ὀπίσω θεῶν ἀλλοτρίων ὧν οὐκ οἴδατε τοῦ κακῶς εἶναι ὑμῗν	καὶ φονεύετε καὶ μοιχᾶσθε καὶ κλέπτετε καὶ ὀμνύετε ἐπ’ ἀδίκῳ καὶ θυμιᾶτε τῇ Βάαλ καὶ ἐπορεύεσθε ὀπίσω θεῶν ἀλλοτρίων, ὧν οὐκ οἴδατε, τοῦ κακῶς εἶναι ὑμῖν
Jeremiah 7:9 (NETS)	Jeremiah 7:9 (English Elpenor)
and murder and commit adultery and steal and swear wrongly and offer incense to the goddess Baal and go after foreign gods that you do not know,	and ye murder, and commit adultery, and steal, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and are gone after strange gods whom ye know not,

Jeremiah 7:10 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 7:10 (KJV)	Jeremiah 7:10 (NET)
And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?	And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?	Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins!

Jeremiah 7:10 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 7:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἤλθετε καὶ ἔστητε ἐνώπιον ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ οὗ ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ καὶ εἴπατε ἀπεσχήμεθα τοῦ μὴ ποιεῗν πάντα τὰ βδελύγματα ταῦτα	καὶ ἤλθετε καὶ ἔστητε ἐνώπιον ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ, οὗ ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπ’ αὐτῷ, καὶ εἴπατε· ἀπεσχήμεθα τοῦ μὴ ποιεῖν πάντα τὰ βδελύγματα ταῦτα
Jeremiah 7:10 (NETS)	Jeremiah 7:10 (English Elpenor)
so that it be ill for you, and if you came and stood before me in the house, where my name has been called on it, and you said, “We have kept away from doing all these abominations”—	so that it is evil with you; yet have ye come, and stood before me in the house, whereon my name is called, and ye have said, We have refrained from doing all these abominations.

Jeremiah 7:11 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 7:11 (KJV)	Jeremiah 7:11 (NET)
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.	Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.	Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

Jeremiah 7:11 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 7:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
μὴ σπήλαιον λῃστῶν ὁ οἶκός μου οὗ ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ ἐκεῗ ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν καὶ ἐγὼ ἰδοὺ ἑώρακα λέγει κύριος	μὴ σπήλαιον λῃστῶν ὁ οἶκός μου, οὗ ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπ’ αὐτῷ ἐκεῖ, ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν; καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἑώρακα, λέγει Κύριος
Jeremiah 7:11 (NETS)	Jeremiah 7:11 (English Elpenor)
surely my house, there where my name has been called on it, has not become a den of robbers before you? And I, behold, I have seen it, says the Lord,	Is my house, whereon my name is called, a den of robbers in your eyes? And, behold, I have seen [it], saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:13 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 23:13 (KJV)	Jeremiah 23:13 (NET)
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.	And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.	The Lord says, “I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something that was disgusting. They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray.

Jeremiah 23:13 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 23:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐν τοῗς προφήταις Σαμαρείας εἶδον ἀνομήματα ἐπροφήτευσαν διὰ τῆς Βααλ καὶ ἐπλάνησαν τὸν λαόν μου Ισραηλ	καὶ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις Σαμαρείας εἶδον ἀνομήματα· ἐπροφήτευσαν διὰ τῆς Βάαλ καὶ ἐπλάνησαν τὸν λαόν μου ᾿Ισραήλ
Jeremiah 23:13 (NETS)	Jeremiah 23:13 (English Elpenor)
And in the prophets of Samaria I saw lawless deeds: they prophesied by the goddess Baal and led my people Israel astray.	And in the prophets of Samaria I have seen lawless deeds; they prophesied by Baal, and led my people Israel astray.

Jeremiah 23:14 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 23:14 (KJV)	Jeremiah 23:14 (NET)
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.	I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.	But I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 23:14 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 23:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐν τοῗς προφήταις Ιερουσαλημ ἑώρακα φρικτά μοιχωμένους καὶ πορευομένους ἐν ψεύδεσι καὶ ἀντιλαμβανομένους χειρῶν πονηρῶν τοῦ μὴ ἀποστραφῆναι ἕκαστον ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ τῆς πονηρᾶς ἐγενήθησάν μοι πάντες ὡς Σοδομα καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες αὐτὴν ὥσπερ Γομορρα	καὶ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ ἑώρακα φρικτά, μοιχωμένους καὶ πορευομένους ἐν ψεύδεσι καὶ ἀντιλαμβανομένους χειρῶν πονηρῶν τοῦ μὴ ἀποστραφῆναι ἕκαστον ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ τῆς πονηρᾶς· ἐγενήθησάν μοι πάντες ὡς Σόδομα καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες αὐτὴν ὥσπερ Γόμορρα
Jeremiah 23:14 (NETS)	Jeremiah 23:14 (English Elpenor)
And in the prophets of Ierousalem I have seen shocking things: people committing adultery and walking in lies and strengthening the hands of evildoers so that no one turns, each from his wicked way; all have become like Sodoma to me, and its inhabitants just like Gomorra.	Also in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible things: as they committed adultery, and walked in lies, and strengthened the hands of many, that they should not return each from his evil way: they are all become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha.

Jeremiah 23:15 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 23:15 (KJV)	Jeremiah 23:15 (NET)
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.	Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.	So then I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason that ungodliness has spread throughout the land.’”

Jeremiah 23:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 23:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει κύριος ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ψωμιῶ αὐτοὺς ὀδύνην καὶ ποτιῶ αὐτοὺς ὕδωρ πικρόν ὅτι ἀπὸ τῶν προφητῶν Ιερουσαλημ ἐξῆλθεν μολυσμὸς πάσῃ τῇ γῇ	διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Κύριος· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ψωμιῶ αὐτοὺς ὀδύνην καὶ ποτιῶ αὐτοὺς ὕδωρ πικρόν, ὅτι ἀπὸ τῶν προφητῶν ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ ἐξῆλθε μολυσμὸς πάσῃ τῇ γῇ
Jeremiah 23:15 (NETS)	Jeremiah 23:15 (English Elpenor)
Therefore this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I will feed them pain and will give them bitter water to drink, because from the prophets of Ierousalem defilement went out to the whole land.”	Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will feed them with pain, and give them bitter water to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem has defilement gone forth [into] all the land.

Jeremiah 23:16 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 23:16 (KJV)	Jeremiah 23:16 (NET)
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.	Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.	The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the people of Jerusalem: “Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own imaginations, not something the Lord has given them to say.

Jeremiah 23:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 23:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
οὕτως λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ μὴ ἀκούετε τοὺς λόγους τῶν προφητῶν ὅτι ματαιοῦσιν ἑαυτοῗς ὅρασιν ἀπὸ καρδίας αὐτῶν λαλοῦσιν καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ στόματος κυρίου	οὕτως λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ· μὴ ἀκούετε τοὺς λόγους τῶν προφητῶν, ὅτι ματαιοῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς ὅρασιν, ἀπὸ καρδίας αὐτῶν λαλοῦσι καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ στόματος Κυρίου
Jeremiah 23:16 (NETS)	Jeremiah 23:16 (English Elpenor)
Thus says the Lord Almighty: Do not hear the words of the prophets, because they are rendering a vision empty. They speak from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord.	Thus saith the Lord Almighty, Hearken not to the words of the prophets: for they frame a vain vision for themselves; they speak from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:17 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 23:17 (KJV)	Jeremiah 23:17 (NET)
They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.	They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.	They continually say to those who reject what the Lord has said, ‘Things will go well for you!’ They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

Jeremiah 23:17 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 23:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)
λέγουσιν τοῗς ἀπωθουμένοις τὸν λόγον κυρίου εἰρήνη ἔσται ὑμῗν καὶ πᾶσιν τοῗς πορευομένοις τοῗς θελήμασιν αὐτῶν παντὶ τῷ πορευομένῳ πλάνῃ καρδίας αὐτοῦ εἶπαν οὐχ ἥξει ἐπὶ σὲ κακά	λέγουσι τοῖς ἀπωθουμένοις τὸν λόγον Κυρίου· εἰρήνη ἔσται ὑμῖν· καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς πορευομένοις τοῖς θελήμασιν αὐτῶν, παντὶ τῷ πορευομένῳ πλάνῃ καρδίας αὐτοῦ εἶπαν· οὐχ ἥξει ἐπὶ σὲ κακά
Jeremiah 23:17 (NETS)	Jeremiah 23:17 (English Elpenor)
They say to those who reject the word of the Lord, “There shall be peace for you,” and to all who walk by their own will, [to every one who walks by the error of his own heart,] they said, “No evil shall come upon you”—	They say to them that reject the word of the Lord, There shall be peace to you; and to all that walk after their own lusts, and to everyone that walks in the error of his heart, they have said, No evil shall come upon thee.

Jeremiah 23:18 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 23:18 (KJV)	Jeremiah 23:18 (NET)
For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?	For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?	Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle so they could see and hear what he has to say? Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

Jeremiah 23:18 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 23:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι τίς ἔστη ἐν ὑποστήματι κυρίου καὶ εἶδεν τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ τίς ἐνωτίσατο καὶ ἤκουσεν	ὅτι τίς ἔστη ἐν ὑποστήματι Κυρίου καὶ εἶδε τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ; τίς ἠνωτίσατο καὶ ἤκουσεν
Jeremiah 23:18 (NETS)	Jeremiah 23:18 (English Elpenor)
because who has stood in support of the Lord and seen his word? Who has given ear and obeyed?	For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and seen his word? who has hearkened, and heard?

Jeremiah 11:21 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 11:21 (KJV)	Jeremiah 11:21 (NET)
Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:	Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:	Then the Lord told me about some men from Anathoth who were threatening to kill me. They had threatened, “Stop prophesying in the name of the Lord or we will kill you!”

Jeremiah 11:21 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 11:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει κύριος ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας Αναθωθ τοὺς ζητοῦντας τὴν ψυχήν μου τοὺς λέγοντας οὐ μὴ προφητεύσῃς ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι κυρίου εἰ δὲ μή ἀποθανῇ ἐν ταῗς χερσὶν ἡμῶν	διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Κύριος ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας ᾿Αναθὼθ τοὺς ζητοῦντας τὴν ψυχήν μου, τοὺς λέγοντας· οὐ μὴ προφητεύσεις ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου, εἰ δὲ μή, ἀποθάνῃ ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν ἡμῶν
Jeremiah 11:21 (NETS)	Jeremiah 11:21 (English Elpenor)
Therefore this is what the Lord says in reference to the men of Anathoth, who seek my soul, who say, “You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord; otherwise you will die by our hands”—	Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth, that seek my life, that say, Thou shalt not prophesy at all in the name of the Lord, but if thou dost, thou shalt die by our hands:

Jeremiah 12:6 (Tanakh)	Jeremiah 12:6 (KJV)	Jeremiah 12:6 (NET)
For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.	For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.	As a matter of fact, even your own brothers and the members of your own family have betrayed you as well. Even they have plotted to do away with you. So do not trust them even when they say kind things to you.

Jeremiah 12:6 (Septuagint BLB)	Jeremiah 12:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ πατρός σου καὶ οὗτοι ἠθέτησάν σε καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐβόησαν ἐκ τῶν ὀπίσω σου ἐπισυνήχθησαν μὴ πιστεύσῃς ἐν αὐτοῗς ὅτι λαλήσουσιν πρὸς σὲ καλά	ὅτι καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ πατρός σου, καὶ οὗτοι ἠθέτησάν σε, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐβόησαν, ἐκ τῶν ὀπίσω σου ἐπισυνήχθησαν· μὴ πιστεύσῃς ἐν αὐτοῖς, ὅτι λαλήσουσι πρός σε καλά
Jeremiah 12:6 (NETS)	Jeremiah 12:6 (English Elpenor)
because even your kinsfolk and the household of your father, even they have dealt faithlessly with you; they too shouted; they were gathered behind you; do not believe them, because they will speak good things to you.	For even thy brethren and the house of thy father, even these have dealt treacherously with thee; and they have cried out, they are gathered together in pursuit of thee; trust not thou in them, though they shall speak fair [words] to thee.

Adultery in the Prophets, Part 3

Back to Solomon’s Wealth, Part 5

Back to Section One – Conclusion

Back to Who Am I? Part 5

Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 7

Back to Hannah’s Prayer, Part 4

Back to The Lost Son of Perdition, Part 11

Back to Who Am I? Part 14

¹ Hosea 4:15a (NET) Table

² This is the same word Jephthah used when he said to his daughter, I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break (šûḇ, לשוב) it (Judges 11:35b NET). Or in the King James Version: …for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back (šûḇ, לשוב).

³ The Hebrew word translated hateful sins in Jeremiah 7:10 (NET) is the same as that translated abomination in Leviticus 20:13 (NET) [Table]: If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, the two of them have committed an abomination (tôʿēḇâ, תועבה).

⁴ Jeremiah 11:21 (NET)

⁵ Jeremiah 12:6 (NET)

⁶ The NET parallel Greek text and NA²⁸ had παρελθάτω here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had παρελθετω.

Adultery in the Prophets, Part 1

Posted on May 29, 2012 by admin

I want to track נָאַף (nā’ap̄) in the Old Testament prophets to see if I can find a better understanding of πορνεία as used by Jesus, Paul and the New Testament writers. Hosea was a prophet in the northern part of the divided kingdom of Israel during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled Judah [the southern kingdom], and during the time when Jeroboam son of Joash [Jeroboam II] ruled Israel.¹ God’s chosen mate for Hosea was not exactly appropriate according to my religious mind (Hosea 1:2-3a NET).

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, “Go marry a prostitute (zᵊnûnîm, זנונים) who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution (zᵊnûnîm, זנונים), because the nation continually commits (zānâ, זנה) spiritual prostitution (zānâ, תזנה) by turning away from the Lord [See Addendum below].” So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim.

Apparently, after giving birth to two sons and a daughter, Gomer wearied of her domestic life and returned to her former occupation (Hosea 3:1-5 NET).

The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery (nā’ap̄, ומנאפת). Likewise, the Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley to purchase her. Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery (zānâ, תזני) or have sexual intercourse (hāyâ, תהיי) with another man, and I also will wait for you” [See Addendum below]. For the Israelites must live many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred fertility pillar, without ephod or idols. Afterward, the Israelites will turn and seek the Lord their God and their Davidic king. Then they will submit to the Lord in fear and receive his blessings in the future.

Here I begin to perceive the meaning of committing adultery (nā’ap̄, תנאף), why it is unlawful, from the mind of God through the prophet Hosea. The Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods. This turning to other gods was equated to adultery (nā’ap̄, ומנאפת). And the Lord commanded Hosea, Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery (nā’ap̄, ומנאפת) as a prostitute (zānâ, תזני). Adultery isn’t against God’s law because an adulterous wife hurts my feelings. An adulterous wife hurts my feelings so I may share in this experience of the mind of God, so that I may know Him.

The Lord had a lot to say to and about the Israelites through Hosea (Hosea 4:1-3 NET):

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit against the people of Israel. For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land, or do they acknowledge God. There is only cursing, lying, murder (rāṣaḥ, ורצח), stealing (gānaḇ, וגנב), and adultery (nā’ap̄, ונאף). They resort to violence and bloodshed [See Addendum below]. Therefore the land will mourn, and all its inhabitants will perish. The wild animals, the birds of the sky, and even the fish in the sea will perish.

None of this happened because the Israelites lacked religion or religious minds (Hosea 4:4-7 NET):

Do not let anyone accuse or contend against anyone else: for my case is against you priests [See Addendum below]! You stumble day and night, and the false prophets stumble with you; You have destroyed your own people [See Addendum below]! You have destroyed my people by failing to acknowledge me! Because you refuse to acknowledge me, I will reject you as my priests. Because you reject the law of your God, I will reject your descendants [See Addendum below]. The more the priests increased in numbers, the more they rebelled against me. They have turned their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace [See Addendum below]!

The Lord was very specific about the shameful disgrace the priests had made of their glorious calling. Apparently, while ignoring almost everything else about God’s law, the priests were very careful to extract their portion of the people’s offerings and sacrifices as specified by the law, and more besides (Hosea 4:8-10 NET):

They feed on the sin offerings of my people; their appetites long for their iniquity! I will deal with the people and priests together: I will punish them both for their ways, and I will repay them for their deeds. They will eat, but not be satisfied; they will engage in prostitution (zānâ, הזנו), but not increase in numbers; because they have abandoned the Lord by pursuing other gods (zᵊnûṯ, הזנו) [See Addendum below].

Next the Lord outlined the explicit form this pursuit of other gods took and his reaction to it (Hosea 4:11-14 NET):

Old and new wine take away the understanding of my people [See Addendum below]. They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution (zᵊnûnîm, זנונים) blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery (zānâ, ויזנו) against their God. They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes (zānâ, תזנינה), and your daughters-in-law commit adultery (nā’ap̄, תנאפנה)! I will not punish your daughters when they commit prostitution (zānâ, תזנינה), nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery (nā’ap̄, תנאפנה). For the men consort with harlots (zānâ, הזנות), they sacrifice with temple prostitutes (qᵊḏēšâ, הקדשות). It is true: “A people that lacks understanding will come to ruin [Table]!” [See Addendum below]

Drunken revelry and orgiastic sex were part of the worship, part of the sacrifice people made to other gods. Men could fulfill their religious obligations with the professionals who served the cult (both male and female) or amateurs at religious festivals eager to enhance their spiritual status as taught by their religion and compelled by their religious minds. Though the northern kingdom of Israel was thoroughly steeped in these religions at this time, the southern kingdom of Jerusalem apparently was not (Hosea 4:15-19 NET).

Although you, O Israel, commit adultery (zānâ, זנה), do not let Judah become guilty! Do not journey to Gilgal! Do not go up to Beth Aven! Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives!” [See Addendum below] Israel has rebelled like a stubborn heifer! Soon the Lord will put them out to pasture like a lamb in a broad field! Ephraim² has attached himself to idols; Do not go near him [Table]! They consume their alcohol, then engage (zānâ, הזנה) in cult prostitution (zānâ, הזנ); they dearly love their shameful behavior [See Addendum below]. A whirlwind has wrapped them in its wings; they will be brought to shame because of their idolatrous worship.

And I wonder if this idolatrous worship with its drunken sexual practices was more what Jesus, Paul and the New Testament writers had in mind when they used the word πορνεία.

Addendum: December 21, 2021
In the table below זְנוּנִים֙ (zᵊnûnîm) was translated with the noun πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) in the Septuagint to describe Gomer and her children. The activity of the land (the people of the northern kingdom of Israel, I assume) was זָנֹ֚ה and תִזְנֶה֙ (zānâ) translated with the verbs ἐκπορνεύουσα and ἐκπορνεύσει, present and future forms respectively of ἐκπορνεύω.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 1:2 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 1:2 (NET)	Hosea 1:2 (NETS)	Hosea 1:2 (Elpenor English)
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms (זְנוּנִים֙) and children of whoredoms (זְנוּנִ֔ים): for the land hath committed great (זָנֹ֚ה) whoredom (תִזְנֶה֙), departing from the LORD.	When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, “Go marry a prostitute (zᵊnûnîm, זנונים) who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution (zᵊnûnîm, זנונים) because the nation continually commits (zānâ, זנה) spiritual prostitution (zānâ, תזנה) by turning away from the Lord.”	The beginning of the word of the Lord in Hosee. And the Lord said to Hosee, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom (πορνείας) and children of whoredom (πορνείας), for the land in committing whoredom (ἐκπορνεύουσα) will commit whoredom (ἐκπορνεύσει) from behind the Lord.”	The beginning of the word of the Lord by Osee. And the Lord said to Osee, Go, take to thyself a wife of fornication (πορνείας), and children of fornication (πορνείας): for the land will surely go a-whoring (ἐκπορνεύσει) in departing (ἐκπορνεύουσα) from the Lord.

In the table below Hosea told Gomer not to ply her trade, the activity תִזְנִ֔ (zānâ) translated with the verb πορνεύσῃς (another form of πορνεύω) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 3:3 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 3:3 (NET)	Hosea 3:3 (NETS)	Hosea 3:3 (Elpenor English)
And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot (תִזְנִ֔י), and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.	Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery (zānâ, תזני) or become joined to another man, and I also will wait for you.”	And I said to her, “For many days you will sit with me, and you will not play the whore (πορνεύσῃς), nor will you be with a man, and I will be with you.”	And I said unto her, Thou shalt wait for me many days; and thou shalt not commit fornication (πορνεύσῃς), neither shalt thou be for [another] man; and I [will be] for thee.

The following table compares the English translations of the Hebrew and Greek of Hosea 4:1, 2.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:1, 2 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:1, 2 (NET)	Hosea 4:1, 2 (NETS)	Hosea 4:1, 2 (Elpenor English)
Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth (אֱמֶ֧ת), nor mercy (חֶ֛סֶד), nor knowledge (דַּ֥עַת) of God in the land.	Listen to the Lord’s message, you Israelites! For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit against the people of Israel. For there is neither faithfulness (‘ĕmeṯ, אמת) nor loyalty (ḥeseḏ, חסד) in the land, nor do they acknowledge (daʿaṯ, דעת) God.	Hear a word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a dispute with the inhabitants of the land. For there is no truthfulness (ἀλήθεια) or mercy (ἔλεος) or knowledge (ἐπίγνωσις) of God in the land.	Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord [has] a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth (ἀλήθεια), nor mercy (ἔλεος), nor knowledge (ἐπίγνωσις) of God in the land.
By swearing, and lying, and killing (וְרָצֹ֥חַ), and stealing (וְגָנֹ֖ב), and committing adultery (וְנָאֹ֑ף), they break out, and blood toucheth blood.	There is only cursing, lying, murder (rāṣaḥ, ורצח), stealing (gānaḇ, וגנב), and adultery (nā’ap̄, ונאף). They resort to violence and bloodshed.	Imprecation and lying and murder (φόνος) and stealing (κλοπὴ) and adultery (μοιχεία) are poured out on the land, and they mix blood with blood.	Cursing, and lying, and murder (φόνος), and theft (κλοπὴ), and adultery (μοιχεία) bound in the land, and they mingle blood with blood.

In Hosea 4:4b (table below) the NET translators assumed that ועמך was a form of עִם (ʿim), for…against you. The translators of the Tanakh and KJV assumed that וְעַמְּךָ֖ was a form of עַם (ʿam), for thy people.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:4 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:4 (NET)	Hosea 4:4 (NETS)	Hosea 4:4 (Elpenor English)
Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people (וְעַמְּךָ֖ H5971) are as they that strive with the priest.	Do not let anyone accuse or contend against anyone else, for my case is against you (ʿim, ועמך) priests!	that no one either go to law or accuse. But my people (ὁ δὲ λαός) will be like a priest being contradicted.	that neither any one may plead, nor any one reprove [another]; but my people (ὁ δὲ λαός) are as a priest spoken against.

Apparently both words share a common root: עָמַם (ʿāmam). Note 9 in the NET explained:

Several textual critics suggest emending the text to read וְעִמְּךָ רִיבִי כֹהֵן (v^eʿimm^ekha rivi khohen), “My contention is with/against you, O priest!” This involves (1) the revocalization of עַמְּךָ (“your people”) to עִמְּךָ (“with/against you”) and (2) positing dittography (a letter written twice instead of once) of כְּ (kaf) between original וְעַמְּךָ רִיבִי to create וְעַמְּךָ כִּרִיבִי (MT). The BHS editors suggest that the MT should be emended. However, the editors of the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project retain the MT reading with a “B” rating.

The rabbis who translated the Septuagint understood ועמך as a form of עַם (ʿam): ὁ δὲ λαός, but my people. So, this emendation is something beyond the scope of what I’m attempting to study here, and (for the moment) beyond any method I can imagine how to study.

In Hosea 4:5b the NET translators assumed that ודמיתי (and I will destroy) was ודמית (and you have destroyed). NET note 10 explained:

The MT reads וְדָמִיתִי אִמֶּךָ (v^edamiti ’immekha, “and I will destroy your mother”), and is followed by most English versions; however, the text should probably be emended to וְדָמִית עַמֶּךָ (v^edamit ’ammekha, “and you have destroyed your own people”). The second person masculine singular form וְדָמִית (v^edamit, “and you have destroyed”) is preserved in several medieval Hebrew mss and reflected in Jerome’s Vulgate.

The table follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:5 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:5 (NET)	Hosea 4:5 (NETS)	Hosea 4:5 (Elpenor English)
Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night (לָ֑יְלָה), and I will destroy (וְדָמִ֖יתִי) thy mother (אִמֶּֽךָ H517).	You stumble day and night (layil, לילה), and the false prophets stumble with you; you have destroyed (dāmâ, ודמית) your own people (ʿam, עמך ).	And you shall be weak by day, and the prophet also shall be weak with you. I have made (ὡμοίωσα) your mother (τὴν μητέρα σου) like night (νυκτὶ).	Therefore they shall fall by day, and the prophet with thee shall fall: I have compared (ὡμοίωσα) thy mother (τὴν μητέρα σου) unto night (νυκτὶ).

The NET translation also required the assumption that אִמֶּֽךָ (‘ēm), thy mother (Tanakh, KJV), was עמך (ʿam), your own people (NET). The rabbis who translated the Septuagint rendered it τὴν μητέρα σου, your mother (NETS). So again, this emendation is beyond the scope of this study as well as my current ability to devise a method to study it.

The Hebrew words translated refuse or reject in Hosea 4:6 in the NET are displayed in the following table, along with their translations into Greek in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:6 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:6 (NET)	Hosea 4:6 (NETS)	Hosea 4:6 (Elpenor English)
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected (מָאַ֗סְתָּ) knowledge, I will also reject (וְאֶמְאָֽסְךָ֙) thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten (וַתִּשְׁכַּח֙) the law of thy God, I will also forget (אֶשְׁכַּ֥ח) thy children.	You have destroyed my people by failing to acknowledge me! Because you refuse (mā’as, מאסת) to acknowledge me, I will reject (mā’as, ואמאסאך) you as my priests. Because you reject (šāḵaḥ, ותשכח) the law of your God, I will reject (šāḵaḥ, אשכח) your descendants.	My people have become like one who lacks knowledge; because you have rejected (ἀπώσω) knowledge, I also will reject (ἀπώσομαι) you from being a priest to me. And you forgot (ἐπελάθου) the law of your God; I also will forget (ἐπιλήσομαι) your children.	My people are like as if they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected (ἀπώσω) knowledge, I will also reject (ἀπώσομαί) thee, that thou shalt not minister as priest to me: and [as] thou has forgotten (ἐπελάθου) the law of thy God, I also will forget (ἐπιλήσομαι) thy children.

The NET translators assumed that אָמִֽיר in Hosea 4:7 in the Masoretic text, therefore will I change (Tanakh, KJV), should have been והמיר, They have turned. Note 15 explained:

The MT reads אָמִיר (ʾamir, “I will change, exchange”; Hiphil imperfect first person common singular from מוּר, mur, “to change, exchange”). However, an alternate scribal tradition (tiqquneh sopherim, that is, an intentional scribal change when the Masoretes believed that the received consonantal reading was defective) preserves the reading הֵמִירוּ (hemiru, “they have exchanged”; Hiphil perfect third person common plural from מוּר). This alternate scribal tradition is also found in the Targum and reflected in the Syriac Peshitta.

The table follows:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:7 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:7 (NET)	Hosea 4:7 (NETS)	Hosea 4:7 (Elpenor English)
As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change (אָמִֽיר) their glory into shame.	The more the priests increased in numbers, the more they rebelled against me. They have turned (mûr, והמיר) their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace!	According to their multitude, thus they sinned against me. I will turn (θήσομαι) their glory into dishonor.	According to their multitude, so they sinned against me: I will turn (θήσομαι) their glory into shame.

Since the Septuagint had θήσομαι (a form of τίθημι), I will turn, this emendation is beyond the scope of this study.

The translators of the NET assumed that זנות (zᵊnûṯ), translated other gods, at the beginning of verse 11 actually belonged at the end of verse 10 (note 17). The translator of the NETS assumed the same apparently of πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία), translated whoredom.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:10, 11 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:10, 11 (NET)	Hosea 4:10, 11 (NETS)	Hosea 4:10, 11 (Elpenor English)
For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom (הִזְנ֖וּ), and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.	They will eat, but not be satisfied; they will engage in prostitution (zānâ, הזנו), but not increase in numbers because they have abandoned the Lord by pursuing other gods (zᵊnûṯ, זנות).	And they shall eat and not be satisfied; they have played the whore (ἐπόρνευσαν) and shall not prosper, for they forsook the Lord to cherish	And they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied: they have gone a-whoring (ἐπόρνευσαν), and shall by no means prosper: because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.
Whoredom (זְנ֛וּת) and wine and new wine take away the heart.	Old and new wine take away the understanding of my people.	whoredom (πορνείαν). And the heart of my people has received wine and intoxicating drink.	The heart of my people has gladly engaged in fornication (Πορνείαν) and wine and strong drink.

NET note 18 reads:

Heb “take away the heart of my people.” The present translation assumes that the first word of v. 12 in the Hebrew text is to be construed with the noun at the end of v. 11 (so also TEV, CEV, NLT).

Both versions of the Septuagint have λαοῦ μου (my people) at the end of verse 11, an apparent translation of עמי (ʿam) at the beginning of verse 12 in the Masoretic text.

The following table compares key words in Hebrew and Greek:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:12-14 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:12-14 (NET)	Hosea 4:12-14 (NETS)	Hosea 4:12-14 (Elpenor English)
My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms (זְנוּנִים֙) hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring (וַיִּזְנ֖וּ) from under their God.	They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution (zᵊnûnîm, זנונים) blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery (zānâ, ויזנו) against their God.	They would consult counselors, and with his rods they would report to him. They were led astray by a spirit of whoredom (πορνείας), and they played the whore (ἐξεπόρνευσαν) from their God.	They asked counsel by [means of] signs, and they reported answer to them by their staves: they have gone astray in a spirit of whoredom (πορνείας), and gone grievously a-whoring (ἐξεπόρνευσαν) from their God.
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom (תִּזְנֶ֙ינָה֙), and your spouses shall commit adultery (תְּנָאַֽפְנָה).	They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes (zānâ, תזנינה), and your daughters-in-law commit adultery (nā’ap̄, תנאפנה)!	They were offering sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and were sacrificing upon the hills, under an oak and a white poplar and a thickly shading tree, because shelter is a good thing. Therefore your daughters will play the whore (ἐκπορνεύσουσιν), and your daughters-in-law will commit adultery (μοιχεύσουσιν).	They have sacrificed on the tops of the mountains, and on the hills they have sacrificed under the oak and poplar, and under the shady tree, because the shade was good: therefore your daughters shall go a-whoring (ἐκπορνεύσουσιν), and your daughters-in-law shall commit adultery (μοιχεύσουσι).
I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom (תִזְנֶ֗ינָה), nor your spouses when they commit adultery (תְנָאַ֔פְנָה): for themselves are separated with whores (הַזֹּנ֣וֹת), and they sacrifice with harlots (הַקְּדֵשׁ֖וֹת): therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall (יִלָּבֵֽט) [Table].	I will not punish your daughters when they commit prostitution (zānâ, תזנינה), nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery (nā’ap̄, תנאפנה). For the men consort with harlots (zānâ, הזנות); they sacrifice with temple prostitutes (qᵊḏēšâ, הקדשות). It is true: “A people that lacks understanding will come to ruin (lāḇaṭ, ילבט)!”	And I will not take an interest in your daughters when they play the whore (πορνεύωσιν) nor in your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery (μοιχεύωσιν), for the men themselves were associating with whores (πορνῶν) and were sacrificing with initiates (τετελεσμένων), and the people, not understanding embraced a whore (πόρνης) [Table].	And I will not visit upon your daughters when they shall commit fornication (πορνεύσωσι), nor your daughters-in-law when they shall commit adultery (μοιχεύσωσιν): for they themselves mingled themselves with harlots (πορνῶν), and sacrificed with polluted ones (τετελεσμένων), and the people that understood not entangled itself with a harlot (πόρνης).

It is difficult to determine whether the rabbis who translated the Septuagint saw יִלָּבֵֽט, shall fall (Tanakh, KJV), will come to ruin (NET), in the text they translated, recognized it as an idiom or euphemism and rendered it more concretely: συνεπλέκετο μετὰ πόρνης, embraced a whore (NETS), entangled itself with a harlot (English Elpenor); or whether the Masoretes edited a clear factual statement in the Hebrew to make it more euphemistic, less pointed in a Christian era.

The rabbis didn’t understand the Hebrew they translated in the Septuagint quite the way the Masoretic text is translated today:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:15 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:15 (NET)	Hosea 4:15 (NETS)	Hosea 4:15 (Elpenor English)
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot (זֹנֶ֚ה), yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.	Although you, O Israel, commit adultery (zānâ, זנה), do not let Judah become guilty! Do not journey to Gilgal. Do not go up to Beth Aven. Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives!”	But you, O Israel, stop being ignorant (ἀγνόει), and you, O Ioudas, stop going to to Galgala, and stop going up to the house of On, and stop swearing by the living Lord.	But thou, O Israel, be not ignorant (ἀγνόει), and go ye not, [men of] Juda, to Galgala; and go not up to the house of On, and swear not by the living Lord.

Here again, the rabbis didn’t understand the Hebrew they translated in the Septuagint quite the way the Masoretic text is translated today:

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Hosea 4:18 (Tanakh/KJV)	Hosea 4:18 (NET)	Hosea 4:18 (NETS)	Hosea 4:18 (Elpenor English)
Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom (הַזְנֵ֣ה) continually (הִזְנ֔וּ): her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.	They consume their alcohol, then engage (zānâ, הזנה) in cult prostitution (zānâ, הזנו); they dearly love their shameful behavior.	He chose Chananites; fornicating (πορνεύοντες) they committed fornication (ἐξεπόρνευσαν). They loved dishonor because of its insolence.	He has chosen the Chananites: they have grievously (πορνεύοντες) gone a-whoring (ἐξεπόρνευσαν): they have loved dishonour through her insolence.

Tables comparing Hosea 1:1; 1:2; 1:3; 3:1; 3:2; 3:3; 3:4; 3:5; 4:1; 4:2; 4:3; 4:4; 4:5; 4:6; 4:7; 4:8; 4:9; 4:10; 4:11; 4:12; 4:13; 4:15; 4:16; 4:18 and 4:19 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Hosea 1:1; 1:2; 1:3; 3:1; 3:2; 3:3; 3:4; 3:5; 4:1; 4:2; 4:3; 4:4; 4:5; 4:6; 4:7; 4:8; 4:9; 4:10; 4:11; 4:12; 4:13; 4:15; 4:16; 4:18 and 4:19 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Hosea 1:1 (Tanakh)	Hosea 1:1 (KJV)	Hosea 1:1 (NET)
The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.	The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.	This is the Lord’s message that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the time of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the time of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.

Hosea 1:1 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 1:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
λόγος κυρίου ὃς ἐγενήθη πρὸς Ωσηε τὸν τοῦ Βεηρι ἐν ἡμέραις Οζιου καὶ Ιωαθαμ καὶ Αχαζ καὶ Εζεκιου βασιλέων Ιουδα καὶ ἐν ἡμέραις Ιεροβοαμ υἱοῦ Ιωας βασιλέως Ισραηλ	ΛΟΓΟΣ Κυρίου, ὃς ἐγενήθη πρὸς ῾Ωσηὲ τὸν τοῦ Βεηρεὶ ἐν ἡμέραις ᾿Οζίου καὶ ᾿Ιωάθαμ καὶ ῎Αχαζ καὶ ᾿Εζεκίου βασιλέων ᾿Ιούδα καὶ ἐν ἡμέραις ῾Ιεροβοὰμ υἱοῦ ᾿Ιωὰς βασιλέως ᾿Ισραήλ
Hosea 1:1 (NETS)	Hosea 1:1 (English Elpenor)
A word of the Lord that came to Hosee the son of Beeri in the days of Kings Ozias and Ioatham and Achaz and Hezekias of Ioudas and in the days of King Ieroboam son of Ioas of Israel.	The word of the Lord which came to Osee the son of Beeri, in the days of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, kings of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joas, king of Israel.

Hosea 1:2 (Tanakh)	Hosea 1:2 (KJV)	Hosea 1:2 (NET)
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.	The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.	When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, “Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the Lord.”

Hosea 1:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 1:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀρχὴ λόγου κυρίου πρὸς Ωσηε καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Ωσηε βάδιζε λαβὲ σεαυτῷ γυναῗκα πορνείας καὶ τέκνα πορνείας διότι ἐκπορνεύουσα ἐκπορνεύσει ἡ γῆ ἀπὸ ὄπισθεν τοῦ κυρίου	᾿Αρχὴ λόγου Κυρίου εἰς ῾Ωσηέ. καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς ῾Ωσηέ· βάδιζε, λαβὲ σεαυτῷ γυναῖκα πορνείας καὶ τέκνα πορνείας, διότι ἐκπορνεύουσα ἐκπορνεύσει ἡ γῆ ἀπὸ ὄπισθεν τοῦ Κυρίου
Hosea 1:2 (NETS)	Hosea 1:2 (English Elpenor)
The beginning of the word of the Lord in Hosee. And the Lord said to Hosee, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom, for the land in committing whoredom will commit whoredom from behind the Lord.”	The beginning of the word of the Lord by Osee. And the Lord said to Osee, Go, take to thyself a wife of fornication, and children of fornication: for the land will surely go a-whoring in departing from the Lord.

Hosea 1:3 (Tanakh)	Hosea 1:3 (KJV)	Hosea 1:3 (NET)
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.	So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.	So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son for him.

Hosea 1:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 1:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐπορεύθη καὶ ἔλαβεν τὴν Γομερ θυγατέρα Δεβηλαιμ καὶ συνέλαβεν καὶ ἔτεκεν αὐτῷ υἱόν	καὶ ἐπορεύθη καί ἔλαβε τὴν Γόμερ θυγατέρα Δεβηλαΐμ, καὶ συνέλαβε καὶ ἔτεκεν αὐτῷ υἱόν
Hosea 1:3 (NETS)	Hosea 1:3 (English Elpenor)
And he went and took Gomer daughter of Debelaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.	So he went and took Gomer, daughter of Debelaim; and he conceived, and bore him a son.

Hosea 3:1 (Tanakh)	Hosea 3:1 (KJV)	Hosea 3:1 (NET)
Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.	Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.	The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery. Likewise, the Lord loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.”

Hosea 3:1 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 3:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρός με ἔτι πορεύθητι καὶ ἀγάπησον γυναῗκα ἀγαπῶσαν πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλίν καθὼς ἀγαπᾷ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀποβλέπουσιν ἐπὶ θεοὺς ἀλλοτρίους καὶ φιλοῦσιν πέμματα μετὰ σταφίδων	ΚΑΙ εἶπε Κύριος πρός με· ἔτι πορεύθητι καὶ ἀγάπησον γυναῖκα ἀγαπῶσαν πονηρὰ καὶ μοιχαλίν, καθὼς ἀγαπᾷ ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς ᾿Ισραὴλ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀποβλέπουσιν ἐπὶ θεοὺς ἀλλοτρίους καὶ φιλοῦσι πέμματα μετὰ σταφίδων
Hosea 3:1 (NETS)	Hosea 3:1 (English Elpenor)
And the Lord said to me, “Go again, and love a woman who loves evil things and is an adulteress, just as God loves the sons of Israel, but they turn their attention to foreign gods, and they like cakes with raisins.”	And the Lord said to me, Go yet, and love a woman that loves evil things, an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, and they have respect to strange gods, and love cakes of dried grapes.

Hosea 3:2 (Tanakh)	Hosea 3:2 (KJV)	Hosea 3:2 (NET)
So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:	So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:	So I paid 15 shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley to purchase her.

Hosea 3:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 3:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐμισθωσάμην ἐμαυτῷ πεντεκαίδεκα ἀργυρίου καὶ γομορ κριθῶν καὶ νεβελ οἴνου	καὶ ἐμισθωσάμην ἐμαυτῷ πεντεκαίδεκα ἀργυρίου καὶ γομὸρ κριθῶν καὶ νέβελ οἴνου
Hosea 3:2 (NETS)	Hosea 3:2 (English Elpenor)
So I hired her to myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a gomor of barley and a nebel of wine.	So I hired [her] to myself for fifteen [pieces] of silver, and a homer of barley, and a flagon of wine.

Hosea 3:3 (Tanakh)	Hosea 3:3 (KJV)	Hosea 3:3 (NET)
And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.	And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.	Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or become joined to another man, and I also will wait for you.”

Hosea 3:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 3:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπα πρὸς αὐτήν ἡμέρας πολλὰς καθήσῃ ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ καὶ οὐ μὴ πορνεύσῃς οὐδὲ μὴ γένῃ ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ καὶ ἐγὼ ἐπὶ σοί	καὶ εἶπα πρὸς αὐτήν· ἡμέρας πολλὰς καθήσῃ ἐπ᾿ ἐμοὶ καὶ οὐ μὴ πορνεύσῃς, οὐδὲ μὴ γένῃ ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ, καὶ ἐγὼ ἐπὶ σοί
Hosea 3:3 (NETS)	Hosea 3:3 (English Elpenor)
And I said to her, “For many days you will sit with me, and you will not play the whore, nor will you be with a man, and I will be with you.”	And I said unto her, Thou shalt wait for me many days; and thou shalt not commit fornication, neither shalt thou be for [another] man; and I [will be] for thee.

Hosea 3:4 (Tanakh)	Hosea 3:4 (KJV)	Hosea 3:4 (NET)
For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:	For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:	For the Israelites must live many days without a king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred fertility pillar, without ephod or idols.

Hosea 3:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 3:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
διότι ἡμέρας πολλὰς καθήσονται οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ οὐκ ὄντος βασιλέως οὐδὲ ὄντος ἄρχοντος οὐδὲ οὔσης θυσίας οὐδὲ ὄντος θυσιαστηρίου οὐδὲ ἱερατείας οὐδὲ δήλων	διότι ἡμέρας πολλὰς καθήσονται οἱ υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραὴλ οὐκ ὄντος βασιλέως οὐδὲ ὄντος ἄρχοντος οὐδὲ οὔσης θυσίας οὐδὲ ὄντος θυσιαστηρίου οὐδὲ ἱερατείας οὐδὲ δήλων
Hosea 3:4 (NETS)	Hosea 3:4 (English Elpenor)
For the sons of Israel shall sit many days without king and without ruler and without sacrifice and without altar and without priestly office and without clear ones.	For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an altar, and without a priesthood, and without manifestations.

Hosea 3:5 (Tanakh)	Hosea 3:5 (KJV)	Hosea 3:5 (NET)
Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.	Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.	Afterward, the Israelites will turn and seek the Lord their God and their Davidic king. Then they will submit to the Lord in fear and receive his blessings in future days.

Hosea 3:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 3:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπιστρέψουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ καὶ ἐπιζητήσουσιν κύριον τὸν θεὸν αὐτῶν καὶ Δαυιδ τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκστήσονται ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῗς ἀγαθοῗς αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν	καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπιστρέψουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραὴλ καὶ ἐπιζητήσουσι Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν αὐτῶν καὶ Δαυὶδ τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῶν· καὶ ἐκστήσονται ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν
Hosea 3:5 (NETS)	Hosea 3:5 (English Elpenor)
And after these things, the sons of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and Dauid their king, and they shall stand in awe at the Lord and his good things in the last days.	And afterward shall the children of Israel return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall be amazed at the Lord and at his goodness in the latter days.

Hosea 4:1 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:1 (KJV)	Hosea 4:1 (NET)
Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.	Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.	Listen to the Lord’s message, you Israelites! For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit against the people of Israel. For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land, nor do they acknowledge God.

Hosea 4:1 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀκούσατε λόγον κυρίου υἱοὶ Ισραηλ διότι κρίσις τῷ κυρίῳ πρὸς τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν διότι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀλήθεια οὐδὲ ἔλεος οὐδὲ ἐπίγνωσις θεοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς	ΑΚΟΥΣΑΤΕ λόγον Κυρίου, υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ, ὅτι κρίσις τῷ Κυρίῳ πρὸς τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν, διότι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀλήθεια οὐδὲ ἔλεος οὐδὲ ἐπίγνωσις Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς
Hosea 4:1 (NETS)	Hosea 4:1 (English Elpenor)
Hear a word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a dispute with the inhabitants of the land. For there is no truthfulness or mercy or knowledge of God in the land.	Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord [has] a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Hosea 4:2 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:2 (KJV)	Hosea 4:2 (NET)
By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.	By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.	There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. They resort to violence and bloodshed.

Hosea 4:2 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀρὰ καὶ ψεῦδος καὶ φόνος καὶ κλοπὴ καὶ μοιχεία κέχυται ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ αἵματα ἐφ᾽ αἵμασιν μίσγουσιν	ἀρὰ καὶ ψεῦδος καὶ φόνος καὶ κλοπὴ καὶ μοιχεία κέχυται ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ αἵματα ἀφ᾿ αἵμασι μίσγουσι
Hosea 4:2 (NETS)	Hosea 4:2 (English Elpenor)
Imprecation and lying and murder and stealing and adultery are poured out on the land, and they mix blood with blood.	Cursing, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery bound in the land, and they mingle blood with blood.

Hosea 4:3 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:3 (KJV)	Hosea 4:3 (NET)
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.	Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.	Therefore the land will mourn, and all its inhabitants will perish. The wild animals, the birds of the sky, and even the fish in the sea will perish.

Hosea 4:3 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
διὰ τοῦτο πενθήσει ἡ γῆ καὶ σμικρυνθήσεται σὺν πᾶσιν τοῗς κατοικοῦσιν αὐτήν σὺν τοῗς θηρίοις τοῦ ἀγροῦ καὶ σὺν τοῗς ἑρπετοῗς τῆς γῆς καὶ σὺν τοῗς πετεινοῗς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ οἱ ἰχθύες τῆς θαλάσσης ἐκλείψουσιν	διὰ τοῦτο πενθήσει ἡ γῆ καὶ σμικρυνθήσεται σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν αὐτήν, σὺν τοῖς θηρίοις τοῦ ἀγροῦ καὶ σὺν τοῖς ἑρπετοῖς τῆς γῆς καὶ σὺν τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ οἱ ἰχθύες τῆς θαλάσσης ἐκλείψουσιν,
Hosea 4:3 (NETS)	Hosea 4:3 (English Elpenor)
Therefore the land shall mourn with all those who inhabit it, with the animals of the field and with the reptiles of the earth and with the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea shall fail,	Therefore shall the land mourn, and shall be diminished with all that dwell in it, with the wild beasts of the field, and the reptiles of the earth, and with the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea shall fail:

Hosea 4:4 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:4 (KJV)	Hosea 4:4 (NET)
Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.	Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.	Do not let anyone accuse or contend against anyone else, for my case is against you priests!

Hosea 4:4 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅπως μηδεὶς μήτε δικάζηται μήτε ἐλέγχῃ μηδείς ὁ δὲ λαός μου ὡς ἀντιλεγόμενος ἱερεύς	ὅπως μηδεὶς μήτε δικάζηται μήτε ἐλέγχῃ μηδείς· ὁ δὲ λαός μου ὡς ἀντιλεγόμενος ἱερεύς.
Hosea 4:4 (NETS)	Hosea 4:4 (English Elpenor)
that no one either go to law or accuse. But my people will be like a priest being contradicted.	that neither any one may plead, nor any one reprove [another]; but my people are as a priest spoken against.

Hosea 4:5 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:5 (KJV)	Hosea 4:5 (NET)
Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.	Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.	You stumble day and night, and the false prophets stumble with you; you have destroyed your own people.

Hosea 4:5 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἀσθενήσεις ἡμέρας καὶ ἀσθενήσει καὶ προφήτης μετὰ σοῦ νυκτὶ ὡμοίωσα τὴν μητέρα σου	καὶ ἀσθενήσεις ἡμέρας, καὶ ἀσθενήσει ὁ προφήτης μετὰ σοῦ· νυκτὶ ὡμοίωσα τὴν μητέρα σου
Hosea 4:5 (NETS)	Hosea 4:5 (English Elpenor)
And you shall be weak by day, and the prophet also shall be weak with you. I have made your mother like night.	Therefore they shall fall by day, and the prophet with thee shall fall: I have compared thy mother unto night.

Hosea 4:6 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:6 (KJV)	Hosea 4:6 (NET)
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.	My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.	You have destroyed my people by failing to acknowledge me! Because you refuse to acknowledge me, I will reject you as my priests. Because you reject the law of your God, I will reject your descendants.

Hosea 4:6 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὡμοιώθη ὁ λαός μου ὡς οὐκ ἔχων γνῶσιν ὅτι σὺ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀπώσω κἀγὼ ἀπώσομαι σὲ τοῦ μὴ ἱερατεύειν μοι καὶ ἐπελάθου νόμον θεοῦ σου κἀγὼ ἐπιλήσομαι τέκνων σου	ὡμοιώθη ὁ λαός μου ὡς οὐκ ἔχων γνῶσιν· ὅτι σὺ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀπώσω, κἀγὼ ἀπώσομαί σε τοῦ μὴ ἱερατεύειν μοι· καὶ ἐπελάθου νόμον Θεοῦ σου, κἀγὼ ἐπιλήσομαι τέκνων σου
Hosea 4:6 (NETS)	Hosea 4:6 (English Elpenor)
My people have become like one who lacks knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being a priest to me. And you forgot the law of your God; I also will forget your children.	My people are like as if they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt not minister as priest to me: and [as] thou has forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

Hosea 4:7 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:7 (KJV)	Hosea 4:7 (NET)
As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.	As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.	The more the priests increased in numbers, the more they rebelled against me. They have turned their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace!

Hosea 4:7 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος αὐτῶν οὕτως ἥμαρτόν μοι τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν εἰς ἀτιμίαν θήσομαι	κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος αὐτῶν οὕτως ἥμαρτόν μοι· τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν εἰς ἀτιμίαν θήσομαι
Hosea 4:7 (NETS)	Hosea 4:7 (English Elpenor)
According to their multitude, thus they sinned against me. I will turn their glory into dishonor.	According to their multitude, so they sinned against me: I will turn their glory into shame.

Hosea 4:8 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:8 (KJV)	Hosea 4:8 (NET)
They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.	They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.	They feed on the sin offerings of my people; their appetites long for their iniquity!

Hosea 4:8 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἁμαρτίας λαοῦ μου φάγονται καὶ ἐν ταῗς ἀδικίαις αὐτῶν λήμψονται τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν	ἁμαρτίας λαοῦ μου φάγονται καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀδικίαις αὐτῶν λήψονται τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν
Hosea 4:8 (NETS)	Hosea 4:8 (English Elpenor)
They will feed on the sins of my people, and they will receive their souls with their injustices.	They will devour the sins of my people, and will set their hearts on their iniquities.

Hosea 4:9 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:9 (KJV)	Hosea 4:9 (NET)
And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.	And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.	I will deal with the people and priests together: I will punish them both for their ways, and I will repay them for their deeds.

Hosea 4:9 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσται καθὼς ὁ λαὸς οὕτως καὶ ὁ ἱερεύς καὶ ἐκδικήσω ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ διαβούλια αὐτοῦ ἀνταποδώσω αὐτῷ	καὶ ἔσται καθὼς ὁ λαὸς οὕτως καὶ ὁ ἱερεύς· καὶ ἐκδικήσω ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ διαβούλια αὐτοῦ ἀνταποδώσω αὐτῷ
Hosea 4:9 (NETS)	Hosea 4:9 (English Elpenor)
And it shall be as the people, so also the priest, and I will avenge on him his ways and repay him for his designs.	And the priest shall be as the people: and I will avenge on them their ways, and I will recompense to them their counsels.

Hosea 4:10 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:10 (KJV)	Hosea 4:10 (NET)
For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.	For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.	They will eat, but not be satisfied; they will engage in prostitution, but not increase in numbers because they have abandoned the Lord by pursuing other gods.

Hosea 4:10 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ φάγονται καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐμπλησθῶσιν ἐπόρνευσαν καὶ οὐ μὴ κατευθύνωσιν διότι τὸν κύριον ἐγκατέλιπον τοῦ φυλάξαι	καὶ φάγονται καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐμπλησθῶσιν, ἐπόρνευσαν καὶ οὐ μὴ κατευθύνωσι, διότι τὸν Κύριον ἐγκατέλιπον τοῦ φυλάξαι
Hosea 4:10 (NETS)	Hosea 4:10 (English Elpenor)
And they shall eat and not be satisfied; they have played the whore and shall not prosper, for they forsook the Lord to cherish	And they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied: they have gone a-whoring, and shall by no means prosper: because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.

Hosea 4:11 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:11 (KJV)	Hosea 4:11 (NET)
Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.	Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.	Old and new wine take away the understanding of my people.

Hosea 4:11 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
πορνείαν καὶ οἶνον καὶ μέθυσμα ἐδέξατο καρδία λαοῦ μου	Πορνείαν καὶ οἶνον καὶ μέθυσμα ἐδέξατο καρδία λαοῦ μου
Hosea 4:11 (NETS)	Hosea 4:11 (English Elpenor)
whoredom. And the heart of my people has received wine and intoxicating drink.	The heart of my people has gladly engaged in fornication and wine and strong drink.

Hosea 4:12 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:12 (KJV)	Hosea 4:12 (NET)
My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.	My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.	They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery against their God.

Hosea 4:12 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐν συμβόλοις ἐπηρώτων καὶ ἐν ῥάβδοις αὐτοῦ ἀπήγγελλον αὐτῷ πνεύματι πορνείας ἐπλανήθησαν καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτῶν	ἐν συμβόλοις ἐπηρώτων, καὶ ἐν ῥάβδοις αὐτοῦ ἀπήγγελλον αὐτῷ· πνεύματι πορνείας ἐπλανήθησαν καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτῶν
Hosea 4:12 (NETS)	Hosea 4:12 (English Elpenor)
They would consult counselors, and with his rods they would report to him. They were led astray by a spirit of whoredom, and they played the whore from their God.	They asked counsel by [means of] signs, and they reported answer to them by their staves: they have gone astray in a spirit of whoredom, and gone grievously a-whoring from their God.

Hosea 4:13 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:13 (KJV)	Hosea 4:13 (NET)
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.	They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.	They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!

Hosea 4:13 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπὶ τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων ἐθυσίαζον καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς βουνοὺς ἔθυον ὑποκάτω δρυὸς καὶ λεύκης καὶ δένδρου συσκιάζοντος ὅτι καλὸν σκέπη διὰ τοῦτο ἐκπορνεύσουσιν αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ νύμφαι ὑμῶν μοιχεύσουσιν	ἐπὶ τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων ἐθυσίαζον καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς βουνοὺς ἔθυον, ὑποκάτω δρυὸς καὶ λεύκης καὶ δένδρου συσκιάζοντος, ὅτι καλὸν σκέπη. διὰ τοῦτο ἐκπορνεύσουσιν αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ αἱ νύμφαι ὑμῶν μοιχεύσουσι
Hosea 4:13 (NETS)	Hosea 4:13 (English Elpenor)
They were offering sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and were sacrificing upon the hills, under an oak and a white poplar and a thickly shading tree, because shelter is a good thing. Therefore your daughters will play the whore, and your daughters-in-law will commit adultery.	They have sacrificed on the tops of the mountains, and on the hills they have sacrificed under the oak and poplar, and under the shady tree, because the shade was good: therefore your daughters shall go a-whoring, and your daughters-in-law shall commit adultery.

Hosea 4:15 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:15 (KJV)	Hosea 4:15 (NET)
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.	Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.	Although you, O Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty! Do not journey to Gilgal. Do not go up to Beth Aven. Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives!”

Hosea 4:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
σὺ δέ Ισραηλ μὴ ἀγνόει καὶ Ιουδα μὴ εἰσπορεύεσθε εἰς Γαλγαλα καὶ μὴ ἀναβαίνετε εἰς τὸν οἶκον Ων καὶ μὴ ὀμνύετε ζῶντα κύριον	Σὺ δέ, ᾿Ισραήλ, μὴ ἀγνόει, καὶ ᾿Ιούδα, μὴ εἰσπορεύεσθε εἰς Γάλγαλα καὶ μὴ ἀναβαίνετε εἰς τὸν Οἶκον ῏Ων καὶ μὴ ὀμνύετε ζῶντα Κύριον
Hosea 4:15 (NETS)	Hosea 4:15 (English Elpenor)
But you, O Israel, stop being ignorant, and you, O Ioudas, stop going to to Galgala, and stop going up to the house of On, and stop swearing by the living Lord.	But thou, O Israel, be not ignorant, and go ye not, [men of] Juda, to Galgala; and go not up to the house of On, and swear not by the living Lord.

Hosea 4:16 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:16 (KJV)	Hosea 4:16 (NET)
For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.	For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.	Israel has rebelled like a stubborn heifer! Soon the Lord will put them out to pasture like a lamb in a broad field.

Hosea 4:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι ὡς δάμαλις παροιστρῶσα παροίστρησεν Ισραηλ νῦν νεμήσει αὐτοὺς κύριος ὡς ἀμνὸν ἐν εὐρυχώρῳ	διότι ὡς δάμαλις παροιστρῶσα παροίστρησεν ᾿Ισραήλ· νῦν νεμήσει αὐτοὺς Κύριος ὡς ἀμνὸν ἐν εὐρυχώρῳ
Hosea 4:16 (NETS)	Hosea 4:16 (English Elpenor)
For like a frenzied heifer, Israel went into a frenzy. Now the Lord will feed them like a lamb in a broad place.	For Israel was maddened like a mad heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a wide place.

Hosea 4:18 (Tanakh)	Hosea 4:18 (KJV)	Hosea 4:18 (NET)
Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.	Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.	They consume their alcohol, then engage in cult prostitution; they dearly love their shameful behavior.

Hosea 4:18 (Septuagint BLB)	Hosea 4:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ᾑρέτισεν Χαναναίους πορνεύοντες ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἠγάπησαν ἀτιμίαν ἐκ φρυάγματος αὐτῶν	ἡρέτισε Χαναναίους· πορνεύοντες ἐξεπόρνευσαν, ἠγάπησαν ἀτιμίαν ἐκ φρυάγματος αὐτῶν
Hosea 4:18 (NETS)	Hosea 4:18 (English Elpenor)
He chose Chananites; fornicating they committed fornication. They loved dishonor because of its insolence.	He has chosen the Chananites: they have grievously gone a-whoring: they have loved dishonour through her insolence.