Hosea 4

God Accuses Israel

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel,

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

There is no faithfulness or loyalty

and no knowledge of God in the land.^*

²Swearing, lying, and murder,

and stealing and adultery break out;

bloodshed follows bloodshed.

³Therefore the land mourns,

and all who live in it languish;

together with the wild animals

and the birds of the air,

even the fish of the sea are perishing.^*

⁴Yet let no one contend,

and let none accuse,

for with you is my contention, O priest.^s*

⁵You shall stumble by day;

the prophet also shall stumble with you by night,

and I will destroy your mother.^*

⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you from being a priest to me;

and since you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.^*

⁷The more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

they changed^t their glory into shame.^*

⁸They feed on the sin of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity.

⁹And it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.^*

¹⁰They shall eat but not be satisfied;

they shall prostitute themselves but not multiply,

because they have forsaken the Lord

to devote themselves to^{* 11}prostitution.

The Idolatry of Israel

Wine and new wine

take away the understanding.^*

¹²My people consult a piece of wood,

and their divining rod gives them oracles.

For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray,

and they have prostituted themselves, forsaking their God.^*

¹³They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

and make offerings upon the hills,

under oak, poplar, and terebinth

because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves,

and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.^*

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves

nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery,

for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes

and sacrifice with female attendants;

thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.^*

¹⁵Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel,

do not let Judah become guilty.

Do not enter into Gilgal

or go up to Beth-aven,

and do not swear, “As the Lord lives.”^*

¹⁶Like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

can the Lord now feed them

like a lamb in a broad pasture?^*

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols—

let him alone.

¹⁸When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies;

they love lewdness more than their glory.^u*

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

and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.^w*