Osee 4

1 Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel: for the Lord [has] a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land.

2 Cursing, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery abound in the land, and they mingle blood with blood.

Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood.

3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and shall be diminished with all that dwell in it, with the wild beasts of the field, and the reptiles of the earth, and with the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea shall fail:

Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together.

4 that neither any one may plead, nor any one reprove [another]; but my people are as a priest spoken against.

But yet let not any man judge: and let not a man be rebuked: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest.

5 Therefore they shall fall by day, and the prophet with you shall fall: I have compared your mother to night.

And thou shalt fall today, and the prophet also shall fall with thee: in the night I have made thy mother to be silent.

6 My people are like as if they had no knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall not minister as priest to me: and [as] you has forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

7 According to their multitude, so they sinned against me: I will turn their glory into shame.

According to the multitude of them so have they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame.

8 They will devour the sins of my people, and will set their hearts on their iniquities.

They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their souls to their iniquity.

9 And the priest shall be as the people: and I will avenge on them their ways, and I will recompense to them their counsels.

And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices.

10 And they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied: they have gone a-whoring, and shall by no means prosper: because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.

And they shall eat and shall not be filled: they have committed fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not observing his law.

11 The heart of my people has gladly engaged in fornication and wine and strong drink.

Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the understanding.

12 They asked counsel by [means of] signs, and they reported answer to them by their staves: they have gone astray in a spirit of whoredom, and gone grievously a-whoring from their God.

My people have consulted their stocks, and their staff hath declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God.

13 They have sacrificed on the tops of the mountains, and on the hills they have sacrificed under the oak and poplar, and under the shady tree, because the shade was good: therefore your daughters shall go a-whoring, and your daughters-in-law shall commit adultery.

They offered sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burnt incense upon the hills: under the oak, and the poplar, and the turpentine tree, because the shadow thereof was good: therefore shall your daughters commit fornication, and your spouses shall be adulteresses.

14 And I will not visit upon your daughters when they shall commit fornication, nor your daughters-in-law when they shall commit adultery: for they themselves mingled themselves with harlots, and sacrificed with polluted ones, and the people that understood not entangled itself with a harlot.

I will not visit upon your daughters when they shell commit fornication, and upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery: because themselves conversed with harlots, and offered sacrifice with the effeminate, and the people that doth not understand shall be beaten.

15 But you, O Israel, be not ignorant, and go you not, [men of] Juda, to Galgala; and go not up to the house of On, and swear not by the living Lord.

If thou play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Juda offend: and go ye not into Galgal, and come not up into Bethaven, and do not swear: The Lord liveth.

16 For Israel was maddened like a mad heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a wide place.

For Israel hath gone astray like a wanton heifer: now will the Lord feed them, as a lamb in a spacious place.

17 Ephraim, joined with idols, has laid stumbling blocks in his own way.

Ephraim is a partaker with idols, let him alone.

18 He has chosen the Chananites: they have grievously gone a-whoring: they have loved dishonour through her insolence.

Their banquet is separated, they have gone astray by fornication: they that should have protected them have loved to bring shame upon them.

19 You are a blast of wind in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.

The wind hath bound them up in its wings, and they shall be confounded because of their sacrifices.