Hosea 4–5

The ’s Accusation against Israel

4The Lord has an accusation to bring against the people who live in this land. Listen, Israel, to what he says: “There is no faithfulness or love in the land, and the people do not acknowledge me as God. ²They make promises and break them; they lie, murder, steal, and commit adultery. Crimes increase, and there is one murder after another. ³And so the land will dry up, and everything that lives on it will die. All the animals and birds, and even the fish, will die.”

The Accuses the Priests

⁴The Lord says, “Let no one accuse the people or reprimand them—my complaint is against you priests.^{j 5}Night and day you blunder on, and the prophets do no better than you. I am going to destroy Israel, your mother. ⁶My people are doomed because they do not acknowledge me. You priests have refused to acknowledge me and have rejected my teaching, and so I reject you and will not acknowledge your sons as my priests.

⁷“The more of you priests there are, the more you sin against me, and so I will turn your honour into disgrace. ⁸You grow rich from the sins of my people, and so you want them to sin more and more. ⁹You will suffer the same punishment as the people! I will punish you and make you pay for the evil you do. ¹⁰You will eat your share of the sacrifices, but still be hungry. You will worship the fertility gods, but still have no children, because you have turned away from me to follow other gods.”

The Condemns Pagan Worship

¹¹The Lord says, “Wine, both old and new, is robbing my people of their senses! ¹²They ask for revelations from a piece of wood! A stick tells them what they want to know! They have left me. Like a woman who becomes a prostitute, they have given themselves to other gods. ¹³At sacred places on the mountain tops they offer sacrifices, and on the hills they burn incense under tall, spreading trees, because the shade is so pleasant!

“As a result, your daughters serve as prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. ¹⁴Yet I will not punish them for this, because you yourselves go off with temple prostitutes,^k and together with them you offer pagan sacrifices. As the proverb says, ‘A people without sense will be ruined.’

¹⁵“Even though you people of Israel are unfaithful to me, may Judah not be guilty of the same thing. Don’t worship at Gilgal or Bethaven,^l or make promises there in the name of the living Lord. ¹⁶The people of Israel are as stubborn as mules. How can I feed them like lambs in a meadow? ¹⁷The people of Israel are under the spell of idols. Let them go their own way. ¹⁸After drinking much wine, they delight in their prostitution, preferring disgrace to honour. ¹⁹They will be carried away as by the wind, and they will be ashamed of their pagan sacrifices.^m

5“Listen to this, you priests! Pay attention, people of Israel! Listen, you that belong to the royal family! You are supposed to judge with justice—so judgement will fall on you! You have become a trap at Mizpah, a net spread on Mount Tabor, ²a deep pit at Acacia City,ⁿ and I will punish all of you. ³I know what Israel is like—she cannot hide from me. She has been unfaithful, and her people are unfit to worship me.”

Hosea Warns against Idolatry

⁴The evil that the people have done prevents them from returning to their God. Idolatry has a powerful hold on them, and they do not acknowledge the Lord. ⁵The arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them. Their sins make them stumble and fall, and the people of Judah fall with them. ⁶They take their sheep and cattle to offer as sacrifices to the Lord, but it does them no good. They cannot find him, for he has left them. ⁷They have been unfaithful to the Lord; their children do not belong to him. So now they and their lands will soon be destroyed.

War between Judah and Israel

⁸Blow the war trumpets in Gibeah! Sound the alarm in Ramah! Raise the war cry at Bethaven!^o Into battle, men of Benjamin! ⁹The day of punishment is coming, and Israel will be ruined. People of Israel, this will surely happen!

¹⁰The Lord says, “I am angry because the leaders of Judah have invaded Israel and stolen land from her. So I will pour out punishment on them like a flood. ¹¹Israel is suffering oppression; she has lost land that was rightfully hers, because she insisted on going for help to those who had none to give.^{p 12}I will bring destruction on Israel and ruin on the people of Judah.

¹³“When Israel saw how sick she was and when Judah saw her own wounds, then Israel went to Assyria to ask the great emperor for help, but he could not cure them or heal their wounds. ¹⁴I will attack the people of Israel and Judah like a lion. I myself will tear them to pieces and then leave them. When I drag them off, no one will be able to save them.

¹⁵“I will abandon my people until they have suffered enough for their sins and come looking for me. Perhaps in their suffering they will try to find me.”