Albert Barnes Commentary Hosea 4:10

"And they shall eat, and not have enough; they shall play the harlot, and shall not increase; because they have left off taking heed to Jehovah." — Hosea 4:10 (ASV)

For they shall eat, and not have enough - This is almost a proverbial saying of Holy Scripture, and, as such, has manifold applications. In the way of nature, it comes true in those who, under God’s afflictive Hand in famine or siege, “eat” what they have, but have “not enough,” and perish with hunger. It also comes true in those who, through bodily disease, are not nourished by their food. Yet it is no less true of those who, through their own insatiable desires, are never satisfied, but crave more greedily the more they have. Their sin of covetousness becomes their torment.

They shall commit whoredom and not increase - Literally, “they have committed whoredom.” The time spoken of is perhaps changed because God would not speak of their future sin as certain. There is naturally also a long interval between this sin and its possible fruit, which may be marked by this change of time. The sin was past; the effect was to be seen hereafter.

They used all means, lawful and unlawful, to increase their offspring, but they failed, precisely because they used forbidden means. God’s curse rested upon those means. Single marriage, according to God’s law, they twain shall be one flesh, yields in a nation larger increase than polygamy. God turns illicit sexual intercourse to decay. His curse is upon it.

Because they have left off to take heed to the Lord - Literally, “to watch, observe, the Lord.” The eye of the soul should be on God, watching and waiting to know all indications of His will, all guidance of His Eye. So the Psalmist says, As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until He have mercy upon us (Psalms 123:2). The Angels of God, great and glorious as they are, do always behold the Face of the Father (Matthew 18:10), at once filled with His love, wrapped in contemplation, and reading in it His will, to do it. The lawless and hopeless ways of Israel sprang from their neglecting to watch and observe God.

For as soon as man ceases to watch God, he falls on his own into sin. The eye that is not fixed on God is soon astray amid the vanities, pomps, and lusts of the world. So it follows;