Hosea 4

1 'Hear a word of Jehovah, sons of Israel, For a strife [is] to Jehovah with inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor kindness, Nor knowledge of God, in the land,

Hear the word of the Lord, ye 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 Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery — have increased, And blood against blood hath touched.

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

3 Therefore mourn doth the land, And weak is every dweller in it, With the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the fishes of the sea — they are removed.

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 Only, let no one strive, nor reprove a man, And thy people [are] as those striving with a priest.

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

5 And thou hast stumbled in the day, And stumbled hath also a prophet with thee in the night, And I have cut off thy mother.

Therefore they shall fall by day, and the prophet with thee shall fall: I have compared thy mother unto night.

6 Cut off have been My people for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons, I also!

My people are like as if they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt not minister as priest to me: and [as] thou has forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

7 According to their abundance so they sinned against Me, Their honour into shame I change.

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 up their soul.

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

9 And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it.

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 have eaten, and are not satisfied, They have gone a-whoring, and increase not, For they have left off taking heed to Jehovah.

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 Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take the heart,

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

12 My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring 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 tops of the mountains they do sacrifice, And on the hills they make perfume, Under oak, and poplar, and terebinth, For good [is] its shade.

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 Therefore commit whoredom do your daughters, And your spouses commit adultery, I do not see after your daughters when they commit whoredom, And after your spouses when they commit adultery, For they with the harlots are separated, And with the whores they do sacrifice, A people that doth not understand kicketh.

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 a harlot thou [art], O Israel, Let not Judah become guilty, And come not ye in to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-Aven, Nor swear ye, Jehovah liveth.

But thou, O Israel, be not ignorant, and go ye 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 refractory heifer hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place.

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

17 Joined to idols [is] Ephraim, let him alone.

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

18 Sour [is] their drink, They have gone diligently a-whoring, Her protectors have loved shame thoroughly.

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

19 Distressed her hath wind with its wings, And they are ashamed of their sacrifices!

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