The interpretation timeline

Hos 4:12

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Hos 4:12 · Douay-Rheims
“My people have consulted their stocks, and their staff hath declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
373
A.D.
Athanasius of Alexandria Patristic
c. A.D. 296–373
“Anthony then asked, "Who are you who say such things to me? And at once he [the demonic voice] uttered a contemptible speech: 'I am a lover of fornication; I have undertaken to ensnare the young and to entice them to it, and I am called the spirit of fornication. How many I have deceived who wished to be chaste! How many who practiced self-restraint have I by my seductions persuaded to change! I am he on whose account the prophet reproaches the fallen, saying, "You have been deceived by the spirit of fornication," for through me they were tripped up. I am he who often troubled you but whom you as often overthrew.' "”
Source
420
A.D.
Jerome Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“The unclean spirit before had been in the synagogue and had led them into idolatry. Of him it is written, "The spirit of harlotry has led them astray." The spirit had gone out of a man and was roaming in the dry places in search of a resting place and could find none. He took with him seven other demons and returned to his former dwelling place. All these spirits were in the synagogue and could not bear the presence of the Savior. Indeed, "what harmony is there between Christ and Belial?" Christ and Belial could not abide in the same assembly. "Now in their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, 'What have we to do with you?' " Who is asking, "What have we to do with you?" He is only one, but he cries out the recognition of many. He is aware that in his own defeat, his devils have been vanquished with him.”
Source
420
A.D.
Jerome Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“"My people hath consulted their stocks, and their staff hath declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God." LXX: "They consulted their wood, and their staff answered them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God." And when his heart is stirred out of its place, he holds wood and stones as gods, and worships the works of his own hands. Hence the prophet, as if amazed and bewildered, speaks: "My people who were once called by my name have asked counsel of a wooden idol, and have sought intuition from rods, which the Greeks call divination by rods." Therefore in Ezekiel we read that Nebuchadnezzar mixed his rods against Ammon and Jerusalem, and a rod went forth against Jerusalem (Ezek. 25): and the cause of this madness of fornication is the spirit that deceived them, so that they might fornicate against their God. But he calls fornication idolatry, according to what we read in Jeremiah: "And they committed adultery with wood and stone, and I said, After they have committed adultery with all these things, return to me, but she did not return with all her heart, but with lies." And again: "You have left me and said, I will go on every high hill, and under every green tree I will spread myself in my fornication" (Jer. 3:5, 6). And in the Psalm it is said: "You have destroyed all who commit fornication away from you" (Ps. 72:27). For the beginning of fornication is the invention of idols. Heretics are never satisfied with their own error, and do not cease from the disgracefulness of fornication. They do not keep the holy Law and Scriptures, abandon the Lord, become insane and inebriated, and, with the judgment of their mind destroyed, worship idols which they themselves have fashioned from their hearts and are possessed by the spirit of fornication.”
Source
435
A.D.
John Cassian Patristic
c. A.D. 360–435
“"It is written in the law: 'You shall not commit fornication.' " This is kept in a beneficial way according to the simple sound of the letter by the person who is still entangled in the passions of fleshly impurity. It is necessarily observed in spiritual fashion, however, by one who has already left behind this filthy behavior and impure disposition. This person also rejects not only all idolatrous ceremonies but also every superstition of the Gentiles and the observance of auguries and omens, and of all signs and days and times, and is certainly not engaged in the divination of particular words or names. [This] befouls the wholesomeness of our faith. Jerusalem is said to have been debauched by this fornication, having fornicated "on every high hill and under every green tree." And the Lord, rebuking [Jerusalem], says by the prophet: "Let the astrologers stand and save you, who gazed on the stars and counted the months, so that from them they might announce the things that are to happen to you." Concerning this fornication the Lord reproaches them elsewhere when he says, "The spirit of fornication has deceived them, and they went fornicating away from their God."”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.