Hosea 4–5

The Lord Accuses Israel

4^kHear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,

for ^lthe Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,

and ^mno knowledge of God in the land;

²ⁿthere is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;

they break all bounds, and ^obloodshed follows bloodshed.

³Therefore ^pthe land mourns,

and all who dwell in it languish,

^qand also the beasts of the field

and the birds of the heavens,

^rand even the fish of the sea are taken away.

^4sYet let no one contend,

and let none accuse,

for with you is ^tmy contention, O priest.¹

⁵You shall stumble by day;

the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;

and I will destroy ^uyour mother.

⁶My people are destroyed ^vfor lack of knowledge;

^wbecause you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you ^xfrom being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

^yI also will forget your children.

^7zThe more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

^aI will change their glory into shame.

^8bThey feed on the sin² of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity.

^9cAnd it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.

^10dThey shall eat, but not be satisfied;

they shall play the whore, but not multiply,

because they have forsaken the Lord

to cherish ¹¹whoredom, wine, and new wine,

which ^etake away the understanding.

¹²My people ^finquire of a piece of wood,

and their walking staff gives them oracles.

For ^ga spirit of whoredom has led them astray,

and they have left their God to play the whore.

^13hThey sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

and burn offerings on the hills,

ⁱunder oak, poplar, and terebinth,

because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the whore,

and your brides commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,

nor your brides when they commit adultery;

for ^jthe men themselves go aside with prostitutes

and sacrifice with ^kcult prostitutes,

and a people ^lwithout understanding shall come to ruin.

¹⁵Though you play the whore, O ^mIsrael,

let not ^mJudah become guilty.

ⁿEnter not into ^oGilgal,

nor go up to ^pBeth-aven,

and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”

¹⁶Like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

can the Lord now feed them

like a lamb in a broad pasture?

^17qEphraim is joined to idols;

^rleave him alone.

¹⁸When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;

^stheir rulers³ dearly love shame.

^19tA wind has wrapped them⁴ in its wings,

and they shall ^ube ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah

5^vHear this, O priests!

Pay attention, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O house of the king!

For the judgment is for you;

for ^wyou have been a snare at Mizpah

and a net spread upon ^xTabor.

²And ^ythe revolters ^zhave gone deep into slaughter,

but ^aI will discipline all of them.

^3bI know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;

Israel is defiled.

^4cTheir deeds do not permit them

to return to their God.

For ^dthe spirit of whoredom is within them,

and they know not the Lord.

^5eThe pride of Israel testifies to his face;¹

Israel and ^fEphraim shall stumble in his guilt;

^fJudah also shall stumble with them.

^6gWith their flocks and herds they shall go

to seek the Lord,

^gbut they will not find him;

^hhe has withdrawn from them.

⁷ⁱThey have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;

for they have borne alien children.

Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

^8jBlow the horn in ^kGibeah,

the trumpet in ^lRamah.

Sound the alarm at ^mBeth-aven;

we follow you,² O Benjamin!

⁹Ephraim shall become a desolation

in the day of punishment;

among the tribes of Israel

I make known what is sure.

¹⁰The princes of Judah have become

like ⁿthose who move the landmark;

upon them I will pour out

my wrath like water.

¹¹Ephraim is ^ooppressed, crushed in judgment,

because he was determined to go after filth.³

¹²But I am ^plike a moth to Ephraim,

and ^plike dry rot to the house of Judah.

¹³When Ephraim saw his sickness,

and Judah ^qhis wound,

then Ephraim went ^rto Assyria,

and sent to the great king.⁴

^sBut he is not able to cure you

or heal ^qyour wound.

¹⁴For I will be ^tlike a lion to ^uEphraim,

and like a young lion to the house of ^uJudah.

^vI, even I, will tear and go away;

I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

^15wI will return again to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

and ^xin their distress earnestly seek me.