Hosea 4

• 1. Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel! The LORD has filed a lawsuit against you, saying: "There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land.
• 2. You curse and lie and kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere, with one murder after another.
• 3. That is why your land is not producing. It is filled with sadness, and all living things are becoming sick and dying. Even the animals, birds, and fish have begun to disappear.
• 4. "Don't point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! Look, you priests, my complaint is with you!
• 5. As a sentence for your crimes, you will stumble in broad daylight, just as you might at night, and so will your false prophets. And I will destroy your mother, Israel.
• 6. My people are being destroyed because they don't know me. It is all your fault, you priests, for you yourselves refuse to know me. Now 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 disgrace of idols.
• 8. "The priests get fed when the people sin and bring their sin offerings to them. So the priests are glad when the people sin!
• 9. `Like priests, like people'--since the priests are wicked, the people are wicked, too. So now I will punish both priests and people for all their wicked deeds.
• 10. They will eat and still be hungry. Though they do a big business as prostitutes, they will have no children, for they have deserted the LORD to worship other gods.
• 11. "Alcohol and prostitution have robbed my people of their brains.
• 12. They are asking a piece of wood to tell them what to do! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God.
• 13. They offer sacrifices to idols on the tops of mountains. They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and other trees. "That is why your daughters turn to prostitution, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
• 14. Why should I punish them? For you men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes. O foolish people! You will be destroyed, for you refuse to understand.
• 15. "Though Israel is a prostitute, may Judah avoid such guilt. O Judah, do not join with those who worship me insincerely at Gilgal and at Beth-aven. Their worship is mere pretense as they take oaths in the LORD's name.
• 16. Israel is as stubborn as a heifer, so the LORD will put her out to pasture. She will stand alone and unprotected, like a helpless lamb in an open field.
• 17. Leave her alone because she is married to idolatry.
• 18. The men of Israel finish up their drinking bouts and off they go to find some prostitutes. Their love for shame is greater than their love for honor.
• 19. So a mighty wind will sweep them away. They will die in shame because they offer sacrifices to idols.

Hosea 5

• 1. "Hear this, you priests and all of Israel's leaders! Listen, all you men of the royal family! These words of judgment are for you: You are doomed! For you have led the people into a snare by worshiping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor.
• 2. You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia. But never forget--I will settle with all of you for what you have done.
• 3. I know what you are like, O Israel! You have left me as a prostitute leaves her husband; you are utterly defiled.
• 4. Your deeds won't let you return to your God. You are a prostitute through and through, and you cannot know the LORD.
• 5. "The arrogance of Israel testifies against her; she will stumble under her load of guilt. Judah, too, will fall with her.
• 6. Then at last, they will come with their flocks and herds to offer sacrifices to the LORD. But it will be too late! They will not find him, because he has withdrawn from them, and they are now alone.
• 7. For they have betrayed the honor of the LORD, bearing children that aren't his. Now their false religion will devour them, along with their wealth.
• 8. "Blow the ram's horn in Gibeah! Sound the alarm in Ramah! Raise the battle cry in Beth-aven! Lead on into battle, O warriors of Benjamin!
• 9. One thing is certain, Israel: When your day of punishment comes, you will become a heap of rubble.
• 10. "The leaders of Judah have become as bad as thieves. So I will pour my anger down on them like a waterfall.
• 11. The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because they are determined to worship idols.
• 12. I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will sap Judah's strength as dry rot weakens wood.
• 13. "When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria, to the great king there, but he could neither help nor cure them.
• 14. I will tear at Israel and Judah as a lion rips apart its prey. I will carry them off, and there will be no one left to rescue them.
• 15. Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and look to me for help. For as soon as trouble comes, they will search for me."

Hosea 6

• 1. "Come, let us return to the LORD! He has torn us in pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds.
• 2. In just a short time, he will restore us so we can live in his presence.
• 3. Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him! Then he will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring."
• 4. "O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?" asks the LORD. "For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
• 5. I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces. I have slaughtered you with my words, threatening you with death. My judgment will strike you as surely as day follows night.
• 6. I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices. I want you to know God; that's more important than burnt offerings.
• 7. "But like Adam, you broke my covenant and rebelled against me.
• 8. Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood.
• 9. Its citizens are bands of robbers, lying in ambush for their victims. Gangs of priests murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin.
• 10. Yes, I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: My people have defiled themselves by chasing after other gods!
• 11. "O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also waiting for you, though I wanted so much to restore the fortunes of my people!

New Living Translation: 300 of 324 days.