LEB HOS Chapter 4

Yahweh Has an Indictment

• 4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O children of Israel,
• 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 Swearing and lying,
  • murdering and stealing,
    • and adultery break out,[fn]
  • and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
• 3 Therefore the land mourns,
  • 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 Yet, let no one contend,
  • and let no one accuse,
• for with you, O priest, is my contention.[fn]
• 5 You will stumble by day,
  • and the priest also will stumble
    • with you at night.
• And I will destroy your mother;
  • 6 My people are destroyed
    • 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 When they became many, their sin increased against me;
  • they changed[fn] their glory into shame.
• 8 They feed on the sin of my people ,[fn]
  • they are greedy[fn] for their iniquity.
• 9 And it will be like people, like priest;
• I will punish them[fn] for their[fn] ways,
  • and I will requite them[fn] for their[fn] deeds.
• 10 They will eat and not be satisfied;
  • they will play the whore and not multiply,
• because they have forsaken Yahweh to devote themselves to
  • 11 whoredom .[fn]
• Wine and new wine take away the understanding .[fn]
  • 12 My people,
• consult their wooden idols ,[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 On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,
  • 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 I will not punish your daughters[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 Even though you, 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,
  • “ As Yahweh lives !”[fn]
• 16 Indeed, like a stubborn heifer,
  • Israel is stubborn;
• Now Yahweh will feed them,
  • like a lamb in broad pasture.[fn]
• 17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
  • let him alone.
• 18 When their drinking has ended,
  • they surely indulge in sexual orgies.
  • They love lewdness more than their[fn] glory.
• 19 A wind has wrapped them[fn] in its wings,
  • and they will be ashamed because of their altars.