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Hosea 4
Hear the word of Yahweh, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of Elohim in the land. 2 There is nothing but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and blood touches blood. 3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells in it shall languish, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens; yes, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4 Yet let no man quarrel, neither let any man reprove; for your people are as they that quarrel with the priest. 5 And you shall stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your Elohim, I also will forget your children. 7 As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame. 8 They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity. 9 And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings. 10 And they shall eat, and not have enough; they shall play the harlot, and shall not increase; because they have left off taking heed to Yahweh.
11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the understanding. 12 My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declares to them; for the spirit of whoredom has caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their Elohim. 13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow of it is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery. 14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go apart with harlots, and they sacrifice with the prostitutes; and the people that does not understand shall be overthrown.
15 Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not to Gilgal, neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear, As Yahweh lives. 16 For Israel has behaved himself stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer: now will Yahweh feed them as a lamb in a large place. 17 Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone. 18 Their drink is become sour; they play the harlot continually; her rulers dearly love shame. 19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be put to shame because of their sacrifices.
Hosea 5
Hear this, O you priests, and listen, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king; for to you pertains the judgment; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. 2 And the revolters are gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them all. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot, Israel is defiled. 4 Their doings will not suffer them to turn to their Elohim; for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not Yahweh. 5 And the pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble with them. 6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh; but they shall not find him: he has withdrawn himself from them. 7 They have dealt treacherously against Yahweh; for they have borne strange children: now shall the new moon devour them with their fields.
8 Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: sound an alarm at Beth-aven; behind you, O Benjamin. 9 Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. 10 The princes of Judah are like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was content to walk after man’s command. 12 Therefore am I to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver. 15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.
Hosea 6
Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. 3 And let us know, let us follow on to know Yahweh: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have killed them by the words of my mouth: and your judgments are as the light that goes forth. 6 For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of Elohim more than burnt-offerings. 7 But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is stained with blood. 9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem; yes, they have committed lewdness. 10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there whoredom is found in Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I bring back the captivity of my people.
