4 Hear the word of Adonai,
people of Isra’el!
For Adonai has a grievance
against the inhabitants of the land:
there is no truth, no faithful love
or knowledge of God in the land;
2 only swearing and lying, killing and stealing
and committing adultery!
They break all bounds, with one blood crime
following another.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and everyone living there languishes,
wild animals too, and the birds in the air;
even the fish in the sea are removed.
4 But no one should quarrel or rebuke,
because your people are having to quarrel with the cohen.
5 Therefore you will stumble by day,
and the prophet will stumble with you at night.
“I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for want of knowledge.
Because you rejected knowledge,
I will also reject you as cohen for me.
Because you forgot the Torah of your God,
I will also forget your children.
7 The more they increased in number,
the more they sinned against me.
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people
and are greedy for their crimes.
9 But the cohen will fare
no better than the people;
I will punish him for his ways
and pay him back for his deeds.
10 They will eat but not have enough
and consort with whores but have no children,
because they stopped listening to Adonai.
11 Whoring and wine, both old and new,
take away my people’s wits.
12 My people consult their piece of wood,
their diviner’s wand speaks to them;
for the spirit of whoring makes them err,
they go off whoring, deserting their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountain peaks
and offer incense on the hills
under oaks, poplars and pistachio trees;
because they give good shade.
Therefore your daughters behave like whores,
And your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 I won’t punish your daughters when they act like whores,
or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery;
because the men are themselves going off with whores
and sacrificing with prostitutes.
Yes, a people without understanding
will come to ruin.”
15 If you, Isra’el, prostitute yourself,
still Y’hudah has no need to incur such guilt.
Don’t go to Gilgal or up to Beit-Aven,
and don’t swear, “As Adonai lives.”
16 For Isra’el is stubborn as a stubborn cow;
will Adonai now feed them like a lamb in a big pasture?
17 Efrayim is joined to idols;
let him alone!
18 When they finish carousing, they start their whoring;
their rulers deeply love dishonor.
19 The wind will carry them off in its wings
and their sacrifices bring them nothing but shame.