Hosea 4:1-19
4 Hear the word of Yahweh, ye sons of Israel,—That a controversy hath Yahweh with the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness nor lovingkindness nor knowledge of God in the land:
2 Cursing and lying, and killing and stealing and committing adultery have broken forth, And blood-shedding unto blood-shedding doth extend.
3 For this cause shall the land mourn And everyone who dwelleth therein shall languish, With the wild beast of the field and With the bird of the heavens,—Moreover also the fishes of the sea shall be withdrawn.
4 Howbeit let no man contend Nor let him rebuke another,—Since thy people are as they who contend against a priest:
5 So shouldst thou stumble in the daytime, And even the prophet stumble with thee in the night,—And I should destroy thine own mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,—Because thou hast rejected knowledge Therefore will I reject thee from ministering as priest unto me, And because thou hast forgotten the law of thy God I also will forget thy children.
7 As they were magnified so they sinned against me,—My glory—for what was contemptible did they exchange.
8 The sin of my people they do eat,—And unto their iniquity lift they up every man his desire.
9 So doth it come to be—Like people, like priest,—Therefore will I visit upon him his ways, And his doings will I bring back to him;
10 And they shall eat and not be satisfied, They have encouraged unchastity yet have not been making increase,—For unto Yahweh have they left off giving heed:—
11 Unchastity and wine and new wine, take away the heart.
12 My people of their Wood do ask,—Let their Staff then tell them,—For the spirit of unchastity hath led them astray, And they have unchastely departed from under their God.
13 On the headlands of the mountains they sacrifice And on the hills burn they incense, Under oak and poplar and terebinth Because pleasant is the shade thereof: For this cause do your daughters become unchaste, And your brides commit adultery.
14 I do not bring punishment upon your daughters when they become unchaste Nor upon your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves with unchaste women do seclude themselves, And with the common women of the shrine do offer sacrifice,—And a people who will not discern must be ruined.
15 Though unchaste art thou O Israel Let not Judah become guilty, Neither let them enter Gilgal Nor go up to Beth-aven, And [then] swear By the life of Yahweh!
16 For as a heifer that is stubborn hath Israel been stubborn,—Now can Yahweh turn them out to pasture, like a young ram in a wide place?
17 Mated with idols is Ephraim, let him alone.
18 Their drinking-bout having passed,—they became unchaste, They loved wildly, A contempt became her great men.
19 The wind hath bound her up in its wings,—That they may be ashamed because of their sacrifices.