Hosea 4

1 You Israeli people, listen to this message from Yahweh! He is accusing you people who live in this country, [saying] “The people are not faithfully [doing what pleases me], they are not kind [to others], and they do not [even] know me!

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 Everywhere in this land they curse [others], they murder [others], they steal, and they commit adultery. They act violently toward others and commit one murder after another.

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

3 It is because of their doing those things that there is no rain [MTY], the land has become dry, the people are mourning, and the people are dying [from hunger]. Even the wild animals and the birds and the fish in the sea are dying.

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 But no one should accuse someone else and say it is his fault. It is you priests whom I am accusing.

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

5 So I will punish [MTY] you priests, night and day, and I will punish the prophets with you. I am going to destroy [Israel, the nation that is like] [MET] a mother to you.

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

6 It is because my people do not know [about me] that they will be destroyed. And their not knowing about me is because you priests have refused [to teach them about me]; so I will no longer allow you to be my priests. You have forgotten the things that I taught you, so I will forget [to bless] your 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 there are more and more priests, they have sinned against me more and more. So I will no longer allow them to be honored; instead, I will cause them to be disgraced.

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

8 The priests get food from [the offerings that the] people [bring in order to be forgiven for having sinned], [so] the priests want the people to sin more and more [in order that the people will bring them more and more offerings].

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

9 The priests [are as sinful] as the [other] people, and I will punish [all of] them for what they have done; I will pay them back for the [evil] things that they have done.

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 [The priests] will eat, but they will still be hungry; they will have sex with prostitutes, but they will not have any children, because they have abandoned [me], Yahweh,

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 and they are devoting themselves to sleeping with prostitutes, and to [drinking] old wine and new wine, which results in their not being able to think clearly.”

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

12 “[You] my people request wooden idols [to tell you what you should do]! Like prostitutes who have left/abandoned their husbands,

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 you have abandoned [me] your God, and you are chasing after [other gods] on the tops of hills and mountains; you burn incense under oak [trees], poplar [trees], and other trees where there is nice/pleasing shade. So your daughters have become prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law have committed 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 But it is not [only] your daughters [whom I will punish] for having become prostitutes, and it is not [only] your daughters-in-law whom I will punish for committing adultery, because the men also are having sex with prostitutes, and they offer sacrifices with the prostitutes [who search for men at the] shrines [of the idols]. [They are all] foolish people, and they will [all] 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 You Israeli [people] have abandoned me like [MET] those who commit adultery have abandoned their spouses. But do not cause [the people of] Judah to sin [also]. Do not go to Gilgal or go up to Beth-Aven [towns] [to worship idols there]. Do not make solemn promises [there, saying ‘Just as surely] as Yahweh lives, [I will do what I am promising].’

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 You [people of Israel] are as stubborn as [SIM] a young cow. So there is no way [RHQ] that [I], Yahweh, will [provide food for them] [like a shepherd provides food for his] lambs [by leading them] to a nice meadow.

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

17 The people of Israel have chosen to worship idols [MET], [so] allow them [to do what they want to do].

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

18 When their rulers finish drinking [their wine], they go to find prostitutes; they love their disgraceful behavior.

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

19 But they will disappear [as though] [MET] they were blown away by a whirlwind. They will become [very] ashamed because of their offering sacrifices [to idols].”

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