Hosea 4:1-7

1 Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel! The LORD has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land.
2 You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere— one murder after another.
3 That is why your land is in mourning, and everyone is wasting away. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea are disappearing.
4 “Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My complaint, you priests, is with you.
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.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Hebrew Your people are like those with a complaint against the priests.
  • [b]. As in Syriac version and an ancient Hebrew tradition; Masoretic Text reads I will turn their glory into shame.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.