Hosea 4

Yahweh Has an Indictment

¹Hear 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,

²Swearing and lying,

³Therefore the land mourns,

with the animals of the field,

⁴Yet, let no one contend,

for with you, O priest, is my contention.

⁵You will stumble by day,

And I will destroy your mother;

because you have rejected knowledge,

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

⁷When they became many, their sin increased against me;

⁸They feed on the sin of my people,[#Literally “They eat the sins of my people”]

⁹And it will be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways,

¹⁰They will eat and not be satisfied;

because they have forsaken Yahweh to devote themselves to

Wine and new wine take away the understanding.

consult their wooden idols,

because a spirit of whoredom led them astray,

¹³On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,

under oak, poplar, and terebinth,

Therefore your daughters play the whore,

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,[#Literally “I will not visit sins upon your daughters”]

because they go aside with whores,

¹⁵Even though you, O Israel, are playing the whore,

do not enter Gilgal,

and do not swear,

¹⁶Indeed, like a stubborn heifer,

Now Yahweh will feed them,

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols;

¹⁸When their drinking has ended,

¹⁹A wind has wrapped them in its wings,[#Hebrew “her”]