Hos 6:9 | JFB | STEP | 9. company-- "association" or guild of priests. murder by consent-- literally, "with one shoulder" (compare , Margin). The image is from oxen putting their shoulders together to pull the same yoke [Rivetus]. Maurer translates, "in the way towards Shechem." It was a city of refuge between Ebal and Gerizim; on Mount Ephraim ( ; ), long the civil capital of Ephraim, as Shiloh was the religious capital; now called Naploos; for a time the residence of Jeroboam ( ). The priests there became so corrupted that they waylaid and murdered persons fleeing to the asylum for refuge [Henderson]; the sanctity of the place enhanced the guilt of the priests who abused their priestly privileges, and the right of asylum to perpetrate murders themselves, or to screen those committed by others [Maurer]. commit lewdness-- deliberate crime, presumptuous wickedness, from an Arabic root, "to form a deliberate purpose."

‏ Hosea 6:9

9. company--"association" or guild of priests.

murder by consent--literally, "with one shoulder" (compare Zep 3:9, Margin). The image is from oxen putting their shoulders together to pull the same yoke [Rivetus]. Maurer translates, "in the way towards Shechem." It was a city of refuge between Ebal and Gerizim; on Mount Ephraim (Jos 20:7; 21:21), long the civil capital of Ephraim, as Shiloh was the religious capital; now called Naploos; for a time the residence of Jeroboam (1Ki 12:25). The priests there became so corrupted that they waylaid and murdered persons fleeing to the asylum for refuge [Henderson]; the sanctity of the place enhanced the guilt of the priests who abused their priestly privileges, and the right of asylum to perpetrate murders themselves, or to screen those committed by others [Maurer].

commit lewdness--deliberate crime, presumptuous wickedness, from an Arabic root, "to form a deliberate purpose."