Hosea 4

1 Hear the word of Yahweh, ye sons of Israel, —that, a controversy, hath Yahweh with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness, nor lovingkindness, nor knowledge of God, in the land:

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.

2 Cursing and lying, and killing and stealing, and committing adultery, have broken forth, and, blood-shedding, unto blood-shedding, doth extend.

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

3 For this cause, shall the land mourn, and everyone who dwelleth therein shall languish, with the wild beast of the field and with the bird of the heavens, —moreover also, the fishes of the sea, shall be withdrawn.

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:

4 Howbeit let, no man, contend, nor let him rebuke another, —since, thy people, are as they who contend against a priest:

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

5 So shouldst thou stumble in the daytime, and even the prophet stumble with thee, in the night, —and I should destroy thine own mother.

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

6 My people, are destroyed, for lack of knowledge, —Because, thou, hast rejected knowledge, therefore will I reject thee from ministering as priest unto me, and, because thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also, will forget thy children.

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.

7 As they were magnified, so, they sinned against me, —My glory—for what was contemptible, did they exchange.

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

8 The sin of my people, they do eat, —and. unto their iniquity, lift they up every man his desire.

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

9 So doth it come to be—like people, like priest, —therefore will I visit upon him his ways, and, his doings, will I bring back to him;

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

10 And they shall eat, and not be satisfied, they have encouraged unchastity, yet have not been making increase, —for unto, Yahweh, have they left off giving heed: —

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.

11 Unchastity, and wine, and new wine, take away the heart.

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

12 My people, of their Wood, do ask, —Let, their Staff, then tell them, —for, the spirit of unchastity, hath led them astray, and they have unchastely departed from under their God.

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.

13 On the headlands of the mountains, they sacrifice, and, on the hills, burn they incense, under oak and poplar and terebinth, because, pleasant, is the shade thereof: For this cause, do your daughters, become unchaste, and, your brides, commit adultery.

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.

14 I do not bring punishment upon your daughters when they become unchaste, nor upon your brides, when they commit adultery, for, the men themselves, with unchaste women, do seclude themselves, and, with the common women of the shrine, do offer sacrifice, —and, a people who will not discern, must be ruined.

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.

15 Though unchaste art thou, O Israel, let not Judah, become guilty, neither let them enter Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and [then] swear, By the life of Yahweh!

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.

16 For, as a heifer that is stubborn, hath Israel, been stubborn, —Now, can Yahweh, turn them out to pasture, like a young ram in a wide place?

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

17 Mated with idols, is Ephraim, let him alone.

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

18 Their drinking-bout, having passed, —they became, unchaste, they loved wildly, a contempt, became her great men.

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

19 The wind hath bound her up in its wings, —that they may be ashamed, because of their sacrifices.

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