Hosea 4
New American Standard Bible
God’s Controversy with Israel
4 (A)Listen to the word of the Lord, you sons of Israel,
Because the Lord has a (B)case against the inhabitants of the land,
For there is (C)no [a]faithfulness, nor [b]loyalty,
Nor (D)knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is (E)oath-taking, (F)[c]denial, (G)murder, (H)stealing, and (I)adultery.
They employ violence, so that (J)bloodshed [d]follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land (K)mourns,
And everyone who lives in it languishes
Along with the animals of the field and the birds of the sky,
And even the fish of the sea [e]disappear.
4 Yet let no one [f](L)find fault, and let no one rebuke;
For your people are like those who (M)contend with a priest.
5 So you will (N)stumble by day,
And the prophet also will stumble with you by night;
And I will destroy your (O)mother.
6 (P)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Since you have (Q)rejected knowledge,
I also will (R)reject you from being My priest.
Since you have (S)forgotten the (T)Law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 The more they (U)multiplied, the more they sinned against Me;
I will (V)change their glory into shame.
8 They (W)feed on the [g]sin of My people,
And (X)long for their wrongdoing.
9 And it will be, like people, (Y)like priest;
So I will (Z)punish them for their ways
And repay them for their deeds.
10 (AA)They will eat, but not have enough;
They will (AB)play the prostitute, but not [h]increase,
Because they (AC)gave up devoting themselves to the Lord.
11 [i]Infidelity, (AD)wine, and new wine take away the [j]understanding.
12 My people (AE)consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them;
For a spirit of infidelity has led them astray,
And they have been unfaithful, departing [k]from their God.
13 They offer sacrifices on the (AF)tops of the mountains
And [l](AG)burn incense on the hills,
(AH)Under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
Because their shade is pleasant.
Therefore your daughters play the prostitute,
And your [m]brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute,
Or your [n]brides when they commit adultery,
Because the men themselves slip away with the prostitutes
And offer sacrifices with (AI)temple prostitutes;
So the people without understanding are ruined.
15 Though you, Israel, play the prostitute,
Judah must not become guilty;
Also you are not to go to (AJ)Gilgal,
Nor go up to Beth-aven
(AK)And take the oath:
“As the Lord lives!”
16 Since Israel is (AL)stubborn
Like a stubborn cow,
[o]Will the Lord now (AM)pasture them
Like a lamb in a large field?
17 Ephraim is allied with (AN)idols;
(AO)Leave him alone.
18 Their liquor is gone,
They prostitute themselves continually;
[p](AP)Their [q]rulers dearly love shame.
19 (AQ)The wind wraps them in its wings,
And they will be [r]put to shame because of their sacrifices.
Footnotes
- Hosea 4:1 Or truth
- Hosea 4:1 Or kindness
- Hosea 4:2 I.e., of truth
- Hosea 4:2 Lit touches
- Hosea 4:3 Lit are taken away
- Hosea 4:4 Lit contend
- Hosea 4:8 Or sin offering
- Hosea 4:10 I.e., either in population or wealth
- Hosea 4:11 Or Prostitution
- Hosea 4:11 Lit heart
- Hosea 4:12 Lit from under
- Hosea 4:13 Or offer sacrifices
- Hosea 4:13 Or daughters-in-law
- Hosea 4:14 Or daughters-in-law
- Hosea 4:16 Or The Lord will now pasture...field.
- Hosea 4:18 Another reading is They dearly love the shame of gifts
- Hosea 4:18 Lit shields
- Hosea 4:19 Or ashamed
Hosea 4
Living Bible
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel. The Lord has filed a lawsuit against you listing the following charges: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. 2 You swear and lie and kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere, with one murder after another.
3 “That is why your land is not producing; it is filled with sadness, and all living things grow sick and die; the animals, the birds, and even the fish begin to disappear.
4 “Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame to him! Look, priest, I am pointing my finger at you. 5 As a sentence for your crimes, you priests will stumble in broad daylight as well as in the night, and so will your false ‘prophets’ too; and I will destroy your mother, Israel. 6 My people are destroyed because they don’t know me, and it is all your fault, you priests, for you yourselves refuse to know me; therefore, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten my laws, I will ‘forget’ to bless your children. 7 The more my people multiplied, the more they sinned against me. They exchanged the glory of God for the disgrace of idols.
8 “The priests rejoice in the sins of the people; they lap it up and lick their lips for more! 9 And thus it is: ‘Like priests, like people’—because the priests are wicked, the people are too. Therefore, I will punish both priests and people for all their wicked deeds. 10 They will eat and still be hungry. Though they do a big business as prostitutes, they shall have no children, for they have deserted me and turned to other gods.
11 “Wine, women, and song have robbed my people of their brains. 12 For they are asking a piece of wood to tell them what to do. ‘Divine Truth’ comes to them through tea leaves![a] Longing after idols has made them foolish. For they have played the harlot, serving other gods, deserting me. 13 They sacrifice to idols on the tops of mountains; they go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks and poplars and sumac trees.
“There your daughters turn to prostitution and your brides commit adultery. 14 But why should I punish them? For you men are doing the same thing, sinning with harlots and temple prostitutes. Fools! Your doom is sealed, for you refuse to understand.
15 “But though Israel is a prostitute, may Judah stay far from such a life. O Judah, do not join with those who insincerely worship me at Gilgal and at Bethel. Their worship is mere pretense. 16 Don’t be like Israel, stubborn as a heifer, resisting the Lord’s attempts to lead her in green pastures. 17 Stay away from her, for she is wedded to idolatry.
18 “The men of Israel finish up their drinking bouts, and off they go to find some whores. Their love for shame is greater than for honor.[b]
19 “Therefore, a mighty wind shall sweep them away;[c] they shall die in shame because they sacrifice to idols.
Footnotes
- Hosea 4:12 through tea leaves, literally, “through their staff.” There is no modern parallel to this ancient practice used by sorcerers, whose predictions were based on how their staffs landed on the ground when thrown or allowed to fall.
- Hosea 4:18 Their love for shame is greater than for honor. The Hebrew text is uncertain. The translation follows the Greek version.
- Hosea 4:19 a mighty wind shall sweep them away. The Assyrian invasion came about twenty years later, and the nation disappeared.
Hosea 4
Good News Translation
The Lord's Accusation against Israel
4 The Lord has an accusation to bring against the people who live in this land. Listen, Israel, to what he says: “There is no faithfulness or love in the land, and the people do not acknowledge me as God. 2 They make promises and break them; they lie, murder, steal, and commit adultery. Crimes increase, and there is one murder after another. 3 And so the land will dry up, and everything that lives on it will die. All the animals and birds, and even the fish, will die.”
The Lord Accuses the Priests
4 The Lord says, “Let no one accuse the people or reprimand them—my complaint is against you priests.[a] 5 Night and day you blunder on, and the prophets do no better than you. I am going to destroy Israel, your mother. 6 My people are doomed because they do not acknowledge me. You priests have refused to acknowledge me and have rejected my teaching, and so I reject you and will not acknowledge your sons as my priests.
7 “The more of you priests there are, the more you sin against me, and so I will turn your honor into disgrace. 8 You grow rich from the sins of my people, and so you want them to sin more and more. 9 You will suffer the same punishment as the people! I will punish you and make you pay for the evil you do. 10 You will eat your share of the sacrifices, but still be hungry. You will worship the fertility gods, but still have no children, because you have turned away from me to follow other gods.”
The Lord Condemns Pagan Worship
11 The Lord says, “Wine, both old and new, is robbing my people of their senses! 12 They ask for revelations from a piece of wood! A stick tells them what they want to know! They have left me. Like a woman who becomes a prostitute, they have given themselves to other gods. 13 At sacred places on the mountaintops they offer sacrifices, and on the hills they burn incense under tall, spreading trees, because the shade is so pleasant!
“As a result, your daughters serve as prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. 14 Yet I will not punish them for this, because you yourselves go off with temple prostitutes,[b] and together with them you offer pagan sacrifices. As the proverb says, ‘A people without sense will be ruined.’
15 “Even though you people of Israel are unfaithful to me, may Judah not be guilty of the same thing. Don't worship at Gilgal or Bethaven,[c] or make promises there in the name of the living Lord. 16 The people of Israel are as stubborn as mules. How can I feed them like lambs in a meadow? 17 The people of Israel are under the spell of idols. Let them go their own way. 18 After drinking much wine, they delight in their prostitution, preferring disgrace to honor. 19 They will be carried away as by the wind, and they will be ashamed of their pagan sacrifices.[d][e]
Footnotes
- Hosea 4:4 Probable text my complaint is against you priests; Hebrew your people are like those with a complaint against the priests.
- Hosea 4:14 These women were found in Canaanite temples, where fertility gods were worshiped. It was believed that intercourse with these prostitutes assured fertile fields and herds.
- Hosea 4:15 This name means “house of evil” or “house of idolatry” and in this passage refers to the city of Bethel, a name which means “house of God.” See also 10.8.
- Hosea 4:19 sacrifices; some ancient translations altars.
- Hosea 4:19 Verses 17-19 in Hebrew are unclear.
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The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
