Hosea 4–6

Chapter 4

The Lord’s Case against Israel

¹Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel!

The Lord has brought charges against you, saying:

“There is no faithfulness, no kindness,

no knowledge of God in your land.

²You make vows and break them;

you kill and steal and commit adultery.

There is violence everywhere—

one murder after another.

³That is why your land is in mourning,

and everyone is wasting away.

Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky,

and the fish of the sea are disappearing.

⁴“Don’t point your finger at someone else

and try to pass the blame!

My complaint, you priests,

is with you.

⁵So you will stumble in broad daylight,

and your false prophets will fall with you in the night.

And I will destroy Israel, your mother.

⁶My people are being destroyed

because they don’t know me.

Since you priests refuse to know me,

I refuse to recognize you as my priests.

Since you have forgotten the laws of your God,

I will forget to bless your children.

⁷The more priests there are,

the more they sin against me.

They have exchanged the glory of God

for the shame of idols.

⁸“When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed.

So the priests are glad when the people sin!

⁹‘And what the priests do, the people also do.’

So now I will punish both priests and people

for their wicked deeds.

¹⁰They will eat and still be hungry.

They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it,

for they have deserted the Lord

¹¹to worship other gods.

“Wine has robbed my people

of their understanding.

¹²They ask a piece of wood for advice!

They think a stick can tell them the future!

Longing after idols

has made them foolish.

They have played the prostitute,

serving other gods and deserting their God.

¹³They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops.

They go up into the hills to burn incense

in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees.

“That is why your daughters turn to prostitution,

and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

¹⁴But why should I punish them

for their prostitution and adultery?

For your men are doing the same thing,

sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes.

O foolish people! You refuse to understand,

so you will be destroyed.

¹⁵“Though you, Israel, are a prostitute,

may Judah not be guilty of such things.

Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven,

and do not take oaths there in the Lord’s name.

¹⁶Israel is stubborn,

like a stubborn heifer.

So should the Lord feed her

like a lamb in a lush pasture?

¹⁷Leave Israel alone,

because she is married to idolatry.

¹⁸When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking,

off they go to find some prostitutes.

They love shame more than honor.

¹⁹So a mighty wind will sweep them away.

Their sacrifices to idols will bring them shame.

Chapter 5

The Failure of Israel’s Leaders

¹“Hear this, you priests.

Pay attention, you leaders of Israel.

Listen, you members of the royal family.

Judgment has been handed down against you.

For you have led the people into a snare

by worshiping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor.

²You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia Grove.

But I will settle with you for what you have done.

³I know what you are like, O Ephraim.

You cannot hide yourself from me, O Israel.

You have left me as a prostitute leaves her husband;

you are utterly defiled.

⁴Your deeds won’t let you return to your God.

You are a prostitute through and through,

and you do not know the Lord.

⁵“The arrogance of Israel testifies against her;

Israel and Ephraim will stumble under their load of guilt.

Judah, too, will fall with them.

⁶When they come with their flocks and herds

to offer sacrifices to the Lord,

they will not find him,

because he has withdrawn from them.

⁷They have betrayed the honor of the Lord,

bearing children that are not his.

Now their false religion will devour them

along with their wealth.

⁸“Sound the alarm in Gibeah!

Blow the trumpet in Ramah!

Raise the battle cry in Beth-aven!

Lead on into battle, O warriors of Benjamin!

⁹One thing is certain, Israel:

On your day of punishment,

you will become a heap of rubble.

¹⁰“The leaders of Judah have become like thieves.

So I will pour my anger on them like a waterfall.

¹¹The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment

because they are determined to worship idols.

¹²I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool.

I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood.

¹³“When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were,

Israel turned to Assyria—

to the great king there—

but he could neither help nor cure them.

¹⁴I will be like a lion to Israel,

like a strong young lion to Judah.

I will tear them to pieces!

I will carry them off,

and no one will be left to rescue them.

¹⁵Then I will return to my place

until they admit their guilt and turn to me.

For as soon as trouble comes,

they will earnestly search for me.”

Chapter 6

A Call to Repentance

¹“Come, let us return to the Lord.

He has torn us to pieces;

now he will heal us.

He has injured us;

now he will bandage our wounds.

²In just a short time he will restore us,

so that we may live in his presence.

³Oh, that we might know the Lord!

Let us press on to know him.

He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn

or the coming of rains in early spring.”

⁴“O Israel and Judah,

what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.

“For your love vanishes like the morning mist

and disappears like dew in the sunlight.

⁵I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—

to slaughter you with my words,

with judgments as inescapable as light.

⁶I want you to show love,

not offer sacrifices.

I want you to know me

more than I want burnt offerings.

⁷But like Adam, you broke my covenant

and betrayed my trust.

⁸“Gilead is a city of sinners,

tracked with footprints of blood.

⁹Priests form bands of robbers,

waiting in ambush for their victims.

They murder travelers along the road to Shechem

and practice every kind of sin.

¹⁰Yes, I have seen something horrible in Ephraim and Israel:

My people are defiled by prostituting themselves with other gods!

¹¹“O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you,

though I wanted to restore the fortunes of my people.