Hosea 4

The Lord Accuses Israel

1 aHear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
for bthe Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and cno knowledge of God in the land;
2 dthere is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and ebloodshed follows bloodshed.
3Therefore fthe land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
gand also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the heavens,
hand even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 iYet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is jmy contention, O priest.
Or  for your people are like those who contend with the priest

5You shall stumble by day;
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy lyour mother.
6My people are destroyed mfor lack of knowledge;
nbecause you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you ofrom being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
pI also will forget your children.
7 qThe more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
rI will change their glory into shame.
8 sThey feed on the sin
Or  sin offering
of my people;
they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 uAnd it shall be like people, like priest;
I will punish them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.
10 vThey shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
to cherish
11whoredom, wine, and new wine,
which wtake away the understanding.
12My people xinquire of a piece of wood,
and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For ya spirit of whoredom has led them astray,
and they have left their God to play the whore.
13 zThey sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
and burn offerings on the hills,
aaunder oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and your brides commit adultery.
14I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for abthe men themselves go aside with prostitutes
and sacrifice with accult prostitutes,
and a people adwithout understanding shall come to ruin.
15 Though you play the whore, O aeIsrael,
let not afJudah become guilty.
agEnter not into ahGilgal,
nor go up to aiBeth-aven,
and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”
16Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17 ajEphraim is joined to idols;
akleave him alone.
18When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;
altheir rulers
Hebrew shields
dearly love shame.
19 anA wind has wrapped them
Hebrew her
in its wings,
and they shall apbe ashamed because of their sacrifices.
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