Hosea 4

1 Hear the word of the Lord, people of Israel, for the Lord has an accusation against the inhabitants of the land! “There is no faithfulness, no loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land.

Hear the word of the Lord, you 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.

2 Instead there is only cursing, lying, murdering, stealing, and adultery. They commit violence, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Cursing, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery abound in the land, and they mingle blood with blood.

3 As a result the land dries up, and everyone who lives there is wasting away, along with the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea—they are all dying.

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:

4 But no one should accuse or blame anyone else. My quarrel is with you the priests—you are the ones responsible.

that neither any one may plead, nor any one reprove [another]; but my people are as a priest spoken against.

5 Consequently you will stumble in daylight, and the prophet will stumble together with you in the night, and I will destroy your mother.

Therefore they shall fall by day, and the prophet with you shall fall: I have compared your mother to night.

6 My people are dying because they don't know me. Because you have refused to know me, I refuse to accept you as my priests. You have forgotten my teachings, so I will forget your children.

My people are like as if they had no knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall not minister as priest to me: and [as] you has forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

7 The more there were of them, the more they sinned against me, so I will change their glory into shame.

According to their multitude, so they sinned against me: I will turn their glory into shame.

8 They feed on the sin of my people, greedy for their iniquity.

They will devour the sins of my people, and will set their hearts on their iniquities.

9 So it will be for the people like the priests: I will punish them for what they have done, repaying them for their actions.

And the priest shall be as the people: and I will avenge on them their ways, and I will recompense to them their counsels.

10 They will eat, but they will not be satisfied; they will engage in prostitution, but they will not prosper because they have given up on the Lord to go and prostitute themselves to other gods.

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.

11 They destroy their minds with old wine and new wine.

The heart of my people has gladly engaged in fornication and wine and strong drink.

12 My people consult their wooden idols and their divining rods give them answers, for a spirit of prostitution makes them go astray. Prostituting themselves, they have deserted 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.

13 They offer sacrifices on the tops of mountains; they burn incense in the hills under the oak, poplar, and terebinth trees where the shade is pleasant. That's the reason why your daughters practice prostitution and your daughters-in-law 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.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they practice prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because you men visit whores and sacrifice with temple prostitutes. A people who lack understanding end up in disaster.

And I will not visit upon your daughters when they shall commit fornication, nor your daughters-in-law when they shall commit adultery: for they themselves mingled themselves with harlots, and sacrificed with polluted ones, and the people that understood not entangled itself with a harlot.

15 Though you, Israel, have become a prostitute, may Judah not offend in the same way and not enter Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, nor swear saying, ‘the Lord lives.’

But you, O Israel, be not ignorant, and go you not, [men of] Juda, to Galgala; and go not up to the house of On, and swear not by the living Lord.

16 For Israel is as stubborn as a stubborn cow. Should the Lord then take care of them like a lamb in a wide pasture?

For Israel was maddened like a mad heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a wide place.

17 Ephraim is bewitched by idols, so leave him alone!

Ephraim, joined with idols, has laid stumbling blocks in his own way.

18 Once the leaders finish drinking, they go off and find prostitutes to sleep with. They love their shameful acts more than honor.

He has chosen the Chananites: they have grievously gone a-whoring: they have loved dishonor through her insolence.

19 A wind will carry them away; they will be ashamed of their pagan worship.

You are a blast of wind in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.