CHAPTER 4

1 Hear 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:

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

3 Mourn 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.

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

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

6 Perished 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.

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

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

9 And 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:

10 For 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.

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

12 My 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:

13 On 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. --

14 I 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.

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

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

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

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

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