Hosea 4–5

4TH CHAPTER

The Lord’s Legal Case against Israel

¹Listen to the Lord word, you Israelites. The Lord has brought these charges against those who live in the land: 

“There is no faith, no love, and no knowledge of God in the land. 

²There is cursing, lying, murdering, stealing, and adultery. 

People break ⸤my laws⸥, and there is one murder after another. 

³That is why the land is drying up, 

and everyone who lives in it is passing away. 

Wild animals, birds, and fish are dying. 

⁴“No one should accuse other people or bring charges against them. 

My case is against you priests. 

⁵During the day you stumble, 

and during the night the prophets stumble with you. 

So I will destroy your mother, ⸤the nation of Israel⸥. 

⁶I will destroy my people because they are ignorant. 

You have refused to learn, 

so I will refuse to let you be my priests. 

You have forgotten the teachings of your God, 

so I will forget your children. 

⁷The more priests there are, 

the more they sin against me. 

So I will turn their glory into shame. 

⁸They feed on the sins of my people, 

and they want them to do wicked things. 

⁹So the priests will be punished like the people. 

I will punish them for their wicked ways 

and pay them back for what they have done. 

¹⁰“They will eat, but they’ll never be full. 

They will have sex with prostitutes, but they’ll never have children. 

They have abandoned the Lord. 

¹¹Prostitutes, old wine, and new wine have robbed them of their senses. 

¹²My people ask their wooden idols for help. 

A piece of wood tells them what to do. 

A spirit of prostitution leads them astray. 

They commit adultery 

by giving themselves to other gods. 

¹³They offer sacrifices on mountaintops, 

and they burn incense on the hills 

under oaks, poplars, and other trees. 

They think that these trees provide good shade. 

“That is why your daughters become prostitutes, 

and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. 

¹⁴Yet, I will not punish your daughters when they become prostitutes 

or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. 

The men go to prostitutes 

and offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes. 

These foolish people will be trampled. 

¹⁵“Israel, you act like a prostitute. 

Don’t let Judah become guilty too. 

Don’t go to Gilgal. 

Don’t go to Beth Aven. 

Don’t take the oath, ‘As the Lord lives …’ 

¹⁶“The people of Israel are as stubborn as a bull. 

How can the Lord feed them like lambs in an open pasture? 

¹⁷The people of Ephraim have chosen to worship idols. Leave them alone! 

¹⁸When they’re done drinking their wine, 

they continue to have sex with the prostitutes. 

Their rulers dearly love to act shamefully. 

¹⁹The wind will carry them away in its wings, 

and their sacrifices will bring them shame. 

5TH CHAPTER

The Lord Announces the Verdict against Israel

¹“Listen to this, you priests! 

Pay attention, nation of Israel! 

Open your ears, royal family! 

This is my decision about you. 

You set traps at Mizpah 

and spread out nets on Mount Tabor. 

²You are deeply involved in sin. 

So I will punish all of you. 

³I know Ephraim, 

and Israel isn’t a stranger to me. 

Now, Ephraim, you are acting like a prostitute, 

and Israel is unclean.^b

⁴“The wicked things that the people have done 

keep them from returning to their God. 

They have a spirit of prostitution, 

and they don’t know the Lord. 

⁵The people of Israel’s arrogance testifies against them. 

Israel and Ephraim stumble because of their sins, 

and Judah stumbles with them. 

⁶They go with their sheep and their cattle to search for the Lord, 

but they can’t find him. 

He has left them. 

⁷They have been unfaithful to the Lord, 

because their children do not belong to him. 

Now their New Moon ⸤Festivals⸥ will devour them and their fields. 

⁸“Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah. 

Blow the trumpet in Ramah. 

Sound the alarm at Beth Aven, you descendants of Benjamin. 

⁹Ephraim will become a wasteland 

when the time for punishment comes. 

I will make the truth known among the tribes of Israel. 

¹⁰The leaders of Judah are like those who move boundary markers. 

I will pour my fury on them like water. 

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed—crushed by punishment, 

because its people are determined to chase idols.^c

¹²I will destroy Ephraim as a moth destroys clothing. 

I will destroy the nation of Judah as rot destroys wood. 

¹³“When Ephraim saw that he was sick 

and when Judah saw his own wounds, 

Ephraim went to Assyria to ask the great king for help.^d

But the king couldn’t cure them or heal their wounds. 

¹⁴I will be like a lion to Ephraim 

and like a young lion to the nation of Judah. 

I will carry ⸤them⸥ off, and no one will rescue ⸤them⸥. 

¹⁵I will go back to my place until they admit that they are guilty. 

Then they will search for me. 

In their distress they will eagerly look for me.”