Hosea 4–6

Yahweh Has an Indictment

4Hear the word of Yahweh, O children of Israel,

for Yahweh has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or loyalty,

there is no knowledge of God in the land.

²Swearing and lying,

murdering and stealing,

and adultery break out,^a

and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

³Therefore the land mourns,

and all those living in it languish

with the animals of the field,

and the birds of the heaven,

and even the fish of the sea

are being swept away.

⁴Yet, let no one contend,

and let no one accuse,

for with you, O priest, is my contention.^b

⁵You will stumble by day,

and the priest also will stumble

with you at night.

And I will destroy your mother;

⁶My people are destroyed

for lack of knowledge;

because you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you from acting as a priest for me.^c

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I will also forget your children.^d

⁷When they became many, their sin increased against me;

they changed^e their glory into shame.

⁸They feed on the sin of my people,^f

they are greedy^g for their iniquity.

⁹And it will be like people, like priest;

I will punish them^h for theirⁱ ways,

and I will requite them^j for their^k deeds.

¹⁰They will eat and not be satisfied;

they will play the whore and not multiply,

because they have forsaken Yahweh to devote themselves to

¹¹whoredom.^l

Wine and new wine take away the understanding.^m

¹²My people,

consult their wooden idols,ⁿ

and their divining rod gives them oracles;

because a spirit of whoredom led them astray,

and they played the whore from under their God.^o

¹³On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,

and on the hills they make offerings,

under oak, poplar, and terebinth,

because their^p shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the whore,

and all your daughters-in-law^q commit adultery.

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

or your daughters-in-law^s when they commit adultery;

because they go aside with whores,

and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes,

a people that does not understand comes to ruin.

¹⁵Even though you, O Israel, are playing the whore,

do not let Judah become guilty;

do not enter Gilgal,

or go up to Beth-aven;

and do not swear,

“As Yahweh lives!”^t

¹⁶Indeed, like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

Now Yahweh will feed them,

like a lamb in broad pasture.^u

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols;

let him alone.

¹⁸When their drinking has ended,

they surely indulge in sexual orgies.

They love lewdness more than their^v glory.

¹⁹A wind has wrapped them^w in its wings,

and they will be ashamed because of their altars.

The Priests Are a Snare

5Hear this, O priests!

Give heed, O house of Israel!

Listen, O house of the king!

Because the judgment applies to you;

because you have been a snare for Mizpah,

and a net spread out on Tabor;

²they dug a deep pit^a in Shittim,

but I am a punishment for all of them.

³I myself know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

because now you have played the whore, O Ephraim—

Israel is defiled.

⁴Their deeds do not permit them

to return them to God.

Because a spirit of whoredom is in their midst,

they do not know Yahweh.

⁵The pride of Israel testifies against him,^b

and Israel and Ephraim stumble in their guilt,

and Judah stumbles with them.

⁶With their flocks^c and herds^d they will go

to seek Yahweh, but they will not find him;

he has withdrawn from them.

⁷They have dealt faithlessly with Yahweh

because they have borne illegitimate children.

Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

⁸Blow the horn^e in Gibeah,

the trumpet in Ramah.

Sound the alarm in Beth-aven;

look behind you, Benjamin.

⁹Ephraim will be a desolation

in the day of punishment;

among the tribes of Israel

I will reveal what is true.

¹⁰The princes of Judah have become

like those who remove a landmark;

on them I will pour out

my wrath like water.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed,

crushed in judgment,

because he was determined

to go after filth.^f

¹²But I am like a maggot to Ephraim

and like rottenness to the house of Judah.

¹³And when Ephraim saw his illness,

and Judah his wound,

Ephraim went to Assyria,

he sent to the great king.^g

But he was unable to cure you

and heal your wound.

¹⁴Because I will be like a lion to Ephraim

and like a fierce strong lion to the house of Judah.

I myself will tear and I will go;

I will carry off, and there is no one who delivers.

¹⁵I will return again^h to my place

until they acknowledge their guilt

and seek my face;

in their distress they will searchⁱ me.

A Call to Yahweh

6Come, let us return to Yahweh;

because it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;

he has struck us down and will bind us up.

²He will revive us after two days;

on the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live in his presence.^a

³Let us know, let us press on to know Yahweh;

his rising is sure like the dawn.

He will come like the showers to us,

like the spring rain that waters the earth.

⁴What will I do with you, O Ephraim?

What will I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that goes away early in the morning.

⁵Therefore, I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have killed them by the words of my mouth,

and my judgment^b goes forth like the light.

⁶Because I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But like Adam, they transgressed the covenant;

there they dealt faithlessly with me.

⁸Gilead is a city of evil,

a cunning city because of blood.^c

⁹Like bandits lying in wait,

so is a band of priests;

they murder on the road to Shechem;

indeed, they commit a monstrous crime.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen something horrible;

Ephraim’s unfaithfulness is there.

Israel is defiled.

Ephraim’s Guilt

¹¹For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed,

when I restore the fortunes of my people,