הושע ד

Hear the word of GOD,
O people of Israel!
For GOD has a case
Against the inhabitants of this land,
Because there is no honesty and no goodness
And no devotion to God in the land.

[False] swearing, dishonesty, and murder,
And theft and adultery are rife;
Crime follows upon crime!

For that, the earth is withered:
Everything that dwells on it languishes—
Beasts of the field and birds of the sky—
Even the fish of the sea perish.

“Let no one rebuke; let no one protest!”
For this, your people has a grievance against [you], O priest!

So you shall stumble by day,
And by night a prophet shall stumble as well,
And I will destroy your kindred.

My people is destroyed for the lack of devotion!
Because you have rejected devotion,
I reject you as My priest;
Because you have spurned the teaching of your God,
I, in turn, will spurn your children.

The more they increased, the more they sinned against Me:
I will change their dignity to dishonor.

They feed on My people’s purgation offerings,
And so they desire its iniquity.

Therefore, the people shall fare like the priests:
I will punish it for its conduct,
I will requite it for its deeds.

Truly, they shall eat, but not be sated;
They shall swill, cf. v. 18. but not be satisfied,
Because they have forsaken GOD
To practice

lechery.
Wine and new wine destroy
The mind of

My people:
It consults its stick,
Its rod directs it!
A lecherous impulse has made them go wrong,
And they have strayed from submission to their God.

They sacrifice on the mountaintops
And offer on the hills,
Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths
Whose shade is so pleasant.
That is why their daughters fornicate
And their daughters-in-law commit adultery!

I will not punish their daughters for fornicating
Nor their daughters-in-law for committing adultery;
For they themselves turn aside with whores
And sacrifice with female consecrated workers, uncertain.
And a people that is without sense must stumble.

If you are a lecher, Israel—
Let not Judah incur guilt—
Do not come to Gilgal,
Do not make pilgrimages to Beth-aven,
And do not swear by GOD!

Ah, Israel has balked
Like a stubborn cow;
Therefore,
GOD will graze him
On the range, like a sheep.

Ephraim is addicted to images—
Let him be.

They drink to excess—
Their liquor turns against them.
They “love” beyond measure—
Disgrace is the “gift”

That the wind is bringing;
They shall garner shame from their sacrifices.