LEB HOS Chapter 4

Yahweh Has an Indictment

• for Yahweh has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.
• There is no faithfulness or loyalty,
  • there is no knowledge of God in the land.
  • 2  murdering and stealing,
    • and adultery break out,[fn]
  • and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
  • 3  and all those living in it languish
• with the animals of the field,
  • and the birds of the heaven,
  • and even the fish of the sea
    • are being swept away.
  • 4  and let no one accuse,
• for with you, O priest, is my contention.[fn]
  • 5 by day, and the priest also will stumble
    • with you at night.
• And I will destroy your mother;
  • 6  for lack of knowledge;
• because you have rejected knowledge,
  • I reject you from acting as a priest for me.[fn]
• And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
  • I will also forget your children.[fn]
  • 7  they changed[fn] their glory into shame.
  • 8 [fn] [fn] for their iniquity.
• 9  I will punish them[fn] for their[fn] ways,
  • and I will requite them[fn] for their[fn] deeds.
  • 10 they will play the whore and not multiply,
• because they have forsaken Yahweh
• 11 [fn] Wine and new wine[fn]
• 12  consult[fn]
  • and their divining rod gives them oracles;
• because a spirit of whoredom led them astray,
  • and they played the whore from under their God.[fn]
  • 13  and on the hills they make offerings,
• under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
  • because their[fn] shade is good.
• Therefore your daughters play the whore,
  • and all your daughters-in-law[fn] commit adultery.
  • 14 [fn] when they play the whore, or your daughters-in-law[fn] when they commit adultery;
• because they go aside with whores,
  • and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes,
    • a people that does not understand comes to ruin.
  • 15 O Israel, are playing the whore, do not let Judah become guilty;
• do not enter Gilgal,
  • or go up to Beth-aven;
• and do not swear,
  • “[fn]
  • 16  Israel is stubborn;
• Now Yahweh will feed them,
  • like a lamb in broad pasture.[fn]
  • 17  let him alone.
  • 18  they surely indulge in sexual orgies.
  • They love lewdness more than their[fn] glory.
  • 19 [fn] in its wings, and they will be ashamed because of their altars.