²⁵ But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land whom God had destroyed before them.^(A)

⁵ and on her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the great, mother^[a] of whores^[b] and of earth’s abominations.”^(A)

The Family of Hosea

² When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.”^(A)

¹⁵ You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice,^(A)

Punishment for Israel’s Sin

¹⁴ Now after Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up as his gods, and worshiped them, making offerings to them.^{(A) 15} The Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you resorted to a people’s gods who could not deliver their own people from your hand?”^(B)

⁷ This occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods^{(A) 8} and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel and in the customs that the kings of Israel had introduced.^{[a](B) 9} The people of Israel did^[b] things that were not right against the Lord their God. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city;^{(C) 10} they set up for themselves pillars and sacred poles^[c] on every high hill and under every green tree;^{(D) 11} there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord had carried away before them. They did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger; ¹² they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”^{(E) 13} Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law that I commanded your ancestors and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”^{(F) 14} They would not listen but were stubborn, as their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.^{(G) 15} They despised his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their ancestors and the warnings that he had given them. They went after false idols and became false; they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do as they did.^{(H) 16} They rejected all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; they made a sacred pole,^[d] worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.^{(I) 17} They made their sons and their daughters pass through fire, used divination and augury, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.^{(J) 18} Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone.^(K)

³³ As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites relapsed and prostituted themselves with the Baals, making Baal-berith their god.^(A)