Commentary on Hosea

1Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; For a contention has Jehovah with the inhabitants of the land, For there is no faithfulness and no kindness, And no knowledge of God in the land:

2Cursing, and lying, and murder, And stealing, and adultery, have burst forth; And blood have touched blood.

3Mourn therefore shall the land, And languish shall every one who dwells in it; Together with the beast of the field, the bird of heaven, And also the fish of the sea, shall they be taken away.

4But yet no man may rebuke and reprove a man; For thy people are as those who chide the priest.

5Fall then shalt thou in the daytime, And fall also shall the Prophet with thee in the night; And I will destroy thy mother.

6Perished have my people without knowledge: As thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, That thou shalt not discharge for me the priesthood; And as thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, Thy children will I also forget.

7According to their increase, so have they sinned against me: Their glory will I turn to shame.

8The sin of my people they eat, And to their iniquity they raise up the soul of each. (154)

9And it shall be, as the people so shall be the priest; And I will visit on them their ways, And their works will I repay them:

10For they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied: They shall play the wanton, and shall not increase; For Jehovah have they left off to serve.

11Wantonness and wine, and new wine, take away the heart.

12My people their wood consult, And their staff answers them; For the spirit of wantonness has deceived them, And they have played the wanton away from their God:

13On the tops of mountains they sacrifice, And on hills they burn incense — Under the oak, and the poplar, and the teil-tree, For pleasant is its shade. Therefore your daughters shall become wanton, And your daughters-in-law shall be adulteresses. —

14I will not punish your daughters, because they become wanton, Nor your daughters-in-law, because they have committed adulteries; For they with strumpets separate themselves, And with harlots they sacrifice: — And the people who understand not shall stumble.

15If thou, Israel, art become wanton, let not Judah offend; Come ye not to Gilgal, nor ascend into Bethaven, Nor swear, Jehovah liveth.

16For as an untameable heifer, untameable is Israel: Now feed him will Jehovah, as a tender lamb, in a spacious place.

17To idols has Ephraim joined himself; — leave him.

18Putrid is become their drink, By wantoning they have become wanton; “Bring ye,” have their princes shamefully loved.

19They have bound up wind in their wings, And ashamed they shall be of their sacrifices.