Hosea 4

The Lord Brings Charges Against Israel

4People of Israel, listen to the Lord’s message.

He is bringing charges

against you who live in Israel.

He says, “There is no faithfulness

or love in the land.

No one recognizes me as God.

²People call down curses on others.

They tell lies and commit murder.

They steal and commit adultery.

They break all of my laws.

They keep on spilling the blood of others.

³That is why the land is drying up.

All those who live in it

are getting weaker and weaker.

The wild animals and the birds of the air are dying.

So are the fish in the ocean.

⁴“But you priests should not blame the people.

You should not find fault with one another.

After all, your people

could also bring charges against you.

⁵You trip and fall day and night.

And the prophets fall down along with you.

So I will destroy your nation.

She is the one who gave birth to you.

⁶My people are destroyed

because they do not know me.

“You priests have refused to obey me.

So I will refuse to accept you as my priests.

You have not paid any attention to my law.

So I will not let your children be my priests.

⁷The more priests there are,

the more they sin against me.

They have traded their glorious God for that shameful god Baal.

⁸They live off the sins of my people.

And they want them to keep on sinning.

⁹So here is what I will do.

I will punish people and priests alike.

I will judge them because of their sinful lives.

I will pay them back

for the evil things they have done.

¹⁰“My people will eat.

But they will not have enough.

They will have sex with prostitutes.

But they will not have any children.

That is because they have deserted me.

¹¹They have sex with prostitutes.

They drink old wine and fresh wine.

When they do those things,

it destroys their ability to understand.

¹²They ask a wooden statue of a god for advice.

They expect to get answers from a stick of wood.

They act like prostitutes.

That leads them down the wrong path.

I am their God.

But they are not faithful to me.

¹³They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops.

They burn offerings on the hills.

They worship under oak, poplar and terebinth trees.

The trees provide plenty of shade.

So your daughters become prostitutes.

And your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

¹⁴“I will not punish your daughters

when they become prostitutes.

I will not judge your daughters-in-law

when they commit adultery.

After all, the men themselves have sex with sinful women.

They offer sacrifices where temple prostitutes earn their living.

People who can’t understand will be destroyed!

¹⁵“Israel, you are not faithful to me.

But I do not want Judah to become guilty too.

“My people, do not go to Gilgal to offer sacrifices.

Do not go up to Bethel to worship other gods.

Do not take an oath and say,

‘You can be sure that the Lord is alive.’

¹⁶The people of Israel are stubborn.

They are as stubborn as a young cow.

So how can I take care of them

like lambs in a meadow?

¹⁷The people of Ephraim have joined themselves to other gods.

And nothing can be done to help them.

¹⁸They continue to be unfaithful to me

even when their drinks are gone.

And their rulers love to do shameful things.

¹⁹A windstorm will blow all of them away.

And their sacrifices will bring shame on them.