God's judgment against the sins of Israel: Juda is warned not to follow
their example.
4:1. Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord
shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is
no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the
land.
4:2. Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have
overflowed, and blood hath touched blood.
4:3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it
shall languish with the heat of the field, and with the fowls of the
air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together.
4:4. But yet let not any man judge: and let not a man be rebuked: for
thy people are as they that contradict the priest.
Let not any man judge, etc... As if he would say: It is in vain to
strive with them, or reprove them, they are so obstinate in evil.
4:5. And thou shalt fall today, and the prophet also shall fall with
thee: in the night I have made thy mother to be silent.
4:6. My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because
thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do
the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of thy
God, I also will forget thy children.
4:7. According to the multitude of them, so have they sinned against me:
I will change their glory into shame.
4:8. They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their souls
to their iniquity.
4:9. And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their
ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices.
4:10. And they shall eat and shall not be filled: they have committed
fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in
not observing the law.
4:11. Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness, take away the
understanding.
4:12. My people have consulted their stocks, and their staff hath
declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them,
and they have committed fornication against their God.
4:13. They offered sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burnt
incense upon the hills: under the oak, and the poplar, and the
turpentine tree, because the shadow thereof was good: therefore shall
your daughters commit fornication, and your spouses shall be
adulteresses.
4:14. I will not visit upon your daughters, when they shall commit
fornication, and upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery:
because themselves conversed with harlots, and offered sacrifice with
the effeminate, and the people that doth not understand shall be beaten.
4:15. If thou play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Juda offend:
and go ye not into Galgal, and come not up into Bethaven, and do not
swear: The Lord liveth.
Galgal and Bethaven... Places where idols were worshipped. Bethel, which
signifies the house of God, is called by the prophet, Bethaven, that is,
the house of vanity, from Jeroboam's golden calf that was worshipped
there.
4:16. For Israel hath gone astray like a wanton heifer now will the Lord
feed them, as a lamb in a spacious place.
4:17. Ephraim is a partaker with idols, let him alone.
4:18. Their banquet is separated, they have gone astray by fornication:
they that should have protected them have loved to bring shame upon
them.
4:19. The wind hath bound them up in its wings, and they shall be
confounded because of their sacrifices.