Hosea 4:4-11
New Living Translation
4 “Don’t point your finger at someone else
and try to pass the blame!
My complaint, you priests,
is with you.[a]
5 So you will stumble in broad daylight,
and your false prophets will fall with you in the night.
And I will destroy Israel, your mother.
6 My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me.
Since you priests refuse to know me,
I refuse to recognize you as my priests.
Since you have forgotten the laws of your God,
I will forget to bless your children.
7 The more priests there are,
the more they sin against me.
They have exchanged the glory of God
for the shame of idols.[b]
8 “When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed.
So the priests are glad when the people sin!
9 ‘And what the priests do, the people also do.’
So now I will punish both priests and people
for their wicked deeds.
10 They will eat and still be hungry.
They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it,
for they have deserted the Lord
11 to worship other gods.
“Wine has robbed my people
of their understanding.
Hosea 4:4-11
Lexham English Bible
4 Yet, let no one contend,
and let no one accuse,
for with you, O priest, is my contention.[a]
5 You will stumble by day,
and the priest also will stumble
with you at night.
And I will destroy your mother;
6 My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from acting as a priest for me.[b]
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I will also forget your children.[c]
7 When they became many, their sin increased against me;
they changed[d] their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people,[e]
they are greedy[f] for their iniquity.
9 And it will be like people, like priest;
I will punish them[g] for their[h] ways,
and I will requite them[i] for their[j] deeds.
10 They will eat and not be satisfied;
they will play the whore and not multiply,
because they have forsaken Yahweh to devote themselves to
11 whoredom.[k]
Wine and new wine take away the understanding.[l]
Footnotes
- Hosea 4:4 The Hebrew is unclear; the NASB translates “For your people are like those who contend with the priest”
- Hosea 4:6 Or “to me”
- Hosea 4:6 Hebrew “sons”
- Hosea 4:7 Hebrew uncertain; MT “I will exchange”
- Hosea 4:8 Literally “They eat the sins of my people”
- Hosea 4:8 Literally “they lift up their throat”
- Hosea 4:9 Hebrew “him”
- Hosea 4:9 Hebrew “his”
- Hosea 4:9 Hebrew “him”
- Hosea 4:9 Hebrew “his”
- Hosea 4:11 Literally “to watch over whoredom”
- Hosea 4:11 Literally “take away heart”
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