Hosea 4:4-6:1

English Standard Version

^4 (A)Yet let no one contend,
    and let none accuse,
    for with you is ^(B)my contention, O priest.^[a]
5 You shall stumble by day;
    the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
    and I will destroy ^(C)your mother.
⁶ My people are destroyed ^(D)for lack of knowledge;
    ^(E)because you have rejected knowledge,
    I reject you ^(F)from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
    ^(G)I also will forget your children.

^7 (H)The more they increased,
    the more they sinned against me;
    ^(I)I will change their glory into shame.
^8 (J)They feed on the sin^[b] of my people;
    they are greedy for their iniquity.
^9 (K)And it shall be like people, like priest;
    I will punish them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.
^10 (L)They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
    they shall play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
    to cherish ¹¹ whoredom, wine, and new wine,
    which ^(M)take away the understanding.
¹² My people ^(N)inquire of a piece of wood,
    and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For ^(O)a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,
    and they have left their God to play the whore.
^13 (P)They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
    and burn offerings on the hills,
^(Q)under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
    because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
    and your brides commit adultery.
¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
    nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for ^(R)the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
    and sacrifice with ^(S)cult prostitutes,
and a people ^(T)without understanding shall come to ruin.

¹⁵ Though you play the whore, O ^(U)Israel,
    let not ^(V)Judah become guilty.
^(W)Enter not into ^(X)Gilgal,
    nor go up to ^(Y)Beth-aven,
    and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”
¹⁶ Like a stubborn heifer,
    Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
    like a lamb in a broad pasture?

^17 (Z)Ephraim is joined to idols;
    ^(AA)leave him alone.
¹⁸ When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;
    ^(AB)their rulers^[c] dearly love shame.
^19 (AC)A wind has wrapped them^[d] in its wings,
    and they shall ^(AD)be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

^3 (AK)I know Ephraim,
    and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;
    Israel is defiled.
^4 (AL)Their deeds do not permit them
    to return to their God.
For ^(AM)the spirit of whoredom is within them,
    and they know not the Lord.

^5 (AN)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;^[e]
    Israel and ^(AO)Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
    ^(AP)Judah also shall stumble with them.
^6 (AQ)With their flocks and herds they shall go
    to seek the Lord,
^(AR)but they will not find him;
    ^(AS)he has withdrawn from them.
^7 (AT)They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;
    for they have borne alien children.
    Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

^8 (AU)Blow the horn in ^(AV)Gibeah,
    the trumpet in ^(AW)Ramah.
Sound the alarm at ^(AX)Beth-aven;
    we follow you,^[f] O Benjamin!
⁹ Ephraim shall become a desolation
    in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
    I make known what is sure.
¹⁰ The princes of Judah have become
    like ^(AY)those who move the landmark;
upon them I will pour out
    my wrath like water.
¹¹ Ephraim is ^(AZ)oppressed, crushed in judgment,
    because he was determined to go after filth.^[g]
12 But I am ^(BA)like a moth to Ephraim,
    and ^(BB)like dry rot to the house of Judah.

¹³ When Ephraim saw his sickness,
    and Judah ^(BC)his wound,
then Ephraim went ^(BD)to Assyria,
    and sent to the great king.^[h]
(BE)But he is not able to cure you
    or heal ^(BF)your wound.
¹⁴ For I will be ^(BG)like a lion to ^(BH)Ephraim,
    and like a young lion to the house of ^(BI)Judah.
^(BJ)I, even I, will tear and go away;
    I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

^15 (BK)I will return again to my place,
    until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
    and ^(BL)in their distress earnestly seek me.