Hosea Chapter 4 to 7 : King James Version
4 1Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. 3Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. 7As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. 8They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. 9And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. 10For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD. 11Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
12My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. 13They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.
15Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth. 16For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. 17Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. 18Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye. 19The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
5 1Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. 2And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. 3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. 4They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. 5And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them. 6They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. 7They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions. 8Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin. 9Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. 10The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. 11Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment. 12Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. 13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. 14For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
15I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
6 1Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
4O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. 5Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. 9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. 10I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.
7 1When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. 2And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. 3They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. 4They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. 5In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners. 6For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. 7They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me. 8Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. 10And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.
11Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. 12When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard. 13Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me. 14And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. 15Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. 16They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.