Hosea 4-5

Authorized (King James) Version

4 Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel:
for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truth, nor mercy,
nor knowledge of God in the land.
² By swearing, and lying, and killing,
and stealing, and committing adultery,
they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
³ Therefore shall the land mourn,
and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish,
with the beasts of the field,
and with the fowls of heaven;
yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
⁴ Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another:
for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
⁵ Therefore shalt thou fall in the day,
and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night,
and I will destroy thy mother.

⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,
that thou shalt be no priest to me:
seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,
I will also forget thy children.
⁷ As they were increased, so they sinned against me:
therefore will I change their glory into shame.
⁸ They eat up the sin of my people,
and they set their heart on their iniquity.
⁹ And there shall be, like people, like priest:
and I will punish them for their ways,
and reward them their doings.
¹⁰ For they shall eat, and not have enough:
they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase:
because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.
¹¹ Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

¹² My people ask counsel at their stocks,
and their staff declareth unto them:
for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err,
and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
¹³ They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,
and burn incense upon the hills,
under oaks and poplars and elms,
because the shadow thereof is good:
therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom,
and your spouses shall commit adultery.
¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom,
nor your spouses when they commit adultery:
for themselves are separated with whores,
and they sacrifice with harlots:
therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

¹⁵ Though thou, Israel, play the harlot,
yet let not Judah offend;
and come not ye unto Gilgal,
neither go ye up to Beth-aven,
nor swear, The Lord liveth.
¹⁶ For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer:
now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
¹⁷ Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
¹⁸ Their drink is sour:
they have committed whoredom continually:
her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
¹⁹ The wind hath bound her up in her wings,
and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

5 Hear ye this, O priests;
and hearken, ye house of Israel;
and give ye ear, O house of the king;
for judgment is toward you,
because ye have been a snare on Mizpah,
and a net spread upon Tabor.
² And the revolters are profound to make slaughter,
though I have been a rebuker of them all.
³ I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hid from me:
for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom,
and Israel is defiled.
⁴ They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God:
for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them,
and they have not known the Lord.
⁵ And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face:
therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity;
Judah also shall fall with them.
⁶ They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord;
but they shall not find him;
he hath withdrawn himself from them.
⁷ They have dealt treacherously against the Lord:
for they have begotten strange children:
now shall a month devour them with their portions.
⁸ Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah,
and the trumpet in Ramah:
cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin.
⁹ Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke:
among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
¹⁰ The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound:
therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment,
because he willingly walked after the commandment.
¹² Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth,
and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah saw his wound,
then went Ephraim to the Assyrian,
and sent to king Jareb:
yet could he not heal you,
nor cure you of your wound.
¹⁴ For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion,
and as a young lion to the house of Judah:
I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

¹⁵ I will go and return to my place,
till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face:
in their affliction they will seek me early.