Hosea 4

Common English Bible

Israel’s sins and coming punishment

4 Hear the Lord’s word,
        people of Israel;
    for the Lord has a dispute
        with the inhabitants of the land.
    There’s no faithful love or loyalty,
        and no knowledge of God in the land.
²Swearing, lying, murder,
        together with stealing and adultery are common;
        bloody crime followed by bloody crime.
³Therefore, the earth itself becomes sick,
        and all who live on it grow weak;
        together with the wild animals
            and the birds in the sky,
        even the fish of the sea are dying.
⁴Yet let no one protest,
        and let no one complain.

    Listen, priest, I am angry with your people.^[a]
⁵You will stumble by day;
        and at nighttime so will your prophet,
        and I will destroy your mother.
⁶My people are destroyed
        from lack of knowledge.
    Since you have rejected knowledge,
        so I will reject you from serving me as a priest.
    Since you have forgotten the Instruction of your God,
        so also I will forget your children.
⁷The more they increased,
        the more they sinned against me;
        they exchanged their glory for shame.
⁸They feed on the sin of my people;
        they set their hearts on evil things.
⁹The priest will be just like the people;
    I will punish them for their ways,
        and judge them for their deeds.
¹⁰They will eat but not be satisfied;
    they will have sex like prostitutes,
        but they will not have children,
    because they have rejected the Lord
        to devote themselves to ¹¹false religious practices.

Description of Israel’s idolatry

    Wine and new wine
        destroy understanding.
¹²My people take advice from a piece of wood,
    and their divining rod gives them predictions.
        A spirit of prostitution has led them astray;
        they have left God to follow other gods.
¹³They offer sacrifices on mountaintops,
        and make entirely burned offerings on hills;
    they offer sacrifices under various green trees,
        because their shade is pleasant.
    Therefore, your daughters act like prostitutes,
        and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
¹⁴I will not punish your daughters because they act like prostitutes,
        nor your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery;
    for the men themselves visit prostitutes,
        and offer sacrifices with consecrated workers at temples;
    so now the people without sense must come to ruin.
¹⁵Israel, even though you act like a prostitute,
        don’t let Judah become guilty.
    Don’t enter into Gilgal,
        or go up to Beth-aven,
        and don’t swear, “As the Lord lives.”
¹⁶Like a stubborn cow Israel is stubborn.
Now the Lord will tend them,^[b]
        as the Lord tends a lamb in a pasture.
¹⁷Ephraim is associated with idols—
        let him alone!
¹⁸Though they have stopped drinking,
        they continue to behave like prostitutes;
        indeed, they “love”; shame is their pride.
¹⁹The wind has wrapped her in its wings;
        they will be ashamed of their sacrifices.