Our Father Brings His Case
Our Father brings a legal case: no faithfulness, no knowledge of him, and the land itself mourning for it. Priests come off worst, since they feed on the people's sin. The verdict repeats that his people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, and like people, like priest.
4 1Hear the word of our Father, children of Israel, for he has a case against the inhabitants of the land: there is no faithfulness, no covenant love, and no knowledge of him in the land. a a v1 Our Father brings a covenant case against his people — not as a distant judge, but as a wounded Father naming the faithfulness, love, and knowledge of him they have lost. 2There is only swearing and lying, murder and stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away, together with the wild animals and the birds in the sky; even the fish in the sea are swept away.
4Yet let no one accuse, let no one lay blame, for your people are like those who quarrel with the priest. b b v4 Quarreling with the priest meant rejecting the one appointed to represent the people before God — the height of defiance. 5You stumble by day, and the prophet stumbles with you by night; and I will destroy your mother. 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you as my priest; because you have forgotten the law of your Father, I also will forget your children. 7The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will turn their glory into shame.
8They feed on the sin of my people and set their hearts on their wrongdoing. 9So it will be: like people, like priest. I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds. 10They will eat but not be satisfied; they will give themselves to prostitution but not multiply, because they have forsaken our Father and abandoned his ways. 11Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away good sense.
12My people consult a piece of wood, and their staff gives them oracles; for a spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have played the prostitute, forsaking their Father. 13They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. So your daughters turn to prostitution and your brides to adultery. 14I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with the temple prostitutes—a people without understanding comes to ruin.
15Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, let Judah not become guilty. Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth-aven; and do not swear, 'As surely as our Father lives.' c c v15 Beth-aven ('house of wickedness') is Hosea's mocking nickname for Bethel, the northern kingdom's main shrine. 16Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. Can our Father now pasture them like a lamb in an open meadow? 17Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone. 18When their drink is gone, they give themselves to prostitution; their rulers dearly love disgrace. 19A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they will be ashamed because of their altars.
