Hosea 4

1 'Hear a word of Jehovah, sons of Israel, For a strife [is] to Jehovah with inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor kindness, Nor knowledge of God, in the land,

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.

2 Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery — have increased, And blood against blood hath touched.

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

3 Therefore mourn doth the land, And weak is every dweller in it, With the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the fishes of the sea — they are removed.

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.

4 Only, let no one strive, nor reprove a man, And thy people [are] as those striving with a priest.

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

5 And thou hast stumbled in the day, And stumbled hath also a prophet with thee in the night, And I have cut off thy mother.

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

6 Cut off have been My people for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons, I also!

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.

7 According to their abundance so they sinned against Me, Their honour into shame I change.

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

8 The sin of My people they do eat, And unto their iniquity lift up their soul.

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

9 And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it.

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

10 And they have eaten, and are not satisfied, They have gone a-whoring, and increase not, For they have left off taking heed to Jehovah.

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.

11 Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take the heart,

They destroy their minds with old wine and new wine.

12 My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring from under their God.

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.

13 On tops of the mountains they do sacrifice, And on the hills they make perfume, Under oak, and poplar, and terebinth, For good [is] its shade.

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.

14 Therefore commit whoredom do your daughters, And your spouses commit adultery, I do not see after your daughters when they commit whoredom, And after your spouses when they commit adultery, For they with the harlots are separated, And with the whores they do sacrifice, A people that doth not understand kicketh.

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.

15 Though a harlot thou [art], O Israel, Let not Judah become guilty, And come not ye in to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-Aven, Nor swear ye, Jehovah liveth.

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.’

16 For as a refractory heifer hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place.

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

17 Joined to idols [is] Ephraim, let him alone.

Ephraim is bewitched by idols, so leave him alone!

18 Sour [is] their drink, They have gone diligently a-whoring, Her protectors have loved shame thoroughly.

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

19 Distressed her hath wind with its wings, And they are ashamed of their sacrifices!

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