Hosea 4:12 - Easy To Read Version My people are asking pieces of wood for advice. They think those sticks will answer them. Why? Because they have chased after those false gods like prostitutes. {\cf2\super [38]} They left their God and became like prostitutes. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition My people [habitually] ask counsel of their [senseless] wood [idols], and their staff [of wood] gives them oracles and instructs them. For the spirit of harlotry has led them astray and they have played the harlot, withdrawing themselves from subjection to their God. American Standard Version (1901) My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God. Common English Bible My people take advice from a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them predictions. A spirit of prostitution has led them astray; they have left God to follow other gods. Catholic Public Domain Version My people have inquired of their stave, and their staff has announced to them. For the spirit of fornication has deceived them, and they have been fornicating before their God. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version 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. |
These things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. And it was the Lord that brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt! The Lord saved them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But the Israelites began worshiping other gods.
But you have lived the way the kings of Israel lived. You have caused the people of Judah and Jerusalem to stop doing what God wants. That is what Ahab and his family did. They were unfaithful to God. You have killed your brothers. Your brothers were better than you.
So God’s people became dirty with the sins of those other people.\par God’s people were unfaithful to their God\par and did the things those other people did.\par
God, people who leave you will be lost.\par You will destroy the people\par who are not faithful to you.\par
All the people of the other nations are stupid and foolish.\par Their teachings come from worthless wooden statues.\par
Those people talk to pieces of wood!\par They say, ‘You are my father.’\par Those people speak to a rock.\par They say, ‘You gave birth to me.’\par All those people will be ashamed.\par Those people don’t look at me.\par They have turned their backs to me.\par But when the people of Judah\par get into trouble, they say to me,\par ‘Come and save us!’\par
“I saw the prophets of Samaria {\cf2\super [184]} \par doing wrong things.\par I saw those prophets prophesy {\cf2\super [185]} \par in the name of the false god Baal. {\cf2\super [186]} \par Those prophets led the people of Israel\par away from the Lord.\par
You keep saying you want to be like the other nations. You live like the people in other nations. You serve pieces of wood and stone (idols)!’”
This shows that the king of Babylon \{is planning the way he wants to attack that area\}. The king of Babylon has come to the place where the two roads separate. The king of Babylon has used \{magic\} signs to find the future. He shook some arrows. He asked questions from family idols. He looked at the liver {\cf2\super [161]} \{from an animal he killed\}.
“Assyria will not save us.\par We will not ride on \{war\} horses.\par We will never again say, ‘Our God’\par to something we made with our hands.\par Why? Because you are the One who\par shows mercy to orphans. {\cf2\super [148]} ”\par
The people of Israel have done many bad things. And those bad things keep them from coming back to their God. They are always thinking of ways to chase after other gods. They don’t know the Lord.
I have seen a terrible thing\par in the nation {\cf2\super [67]} of Israel.\par Ephraim {\cf2\super [68]} was unfaithful to God.\par Israel is dirty with sin.\par
Israel, don’t celebrate like the nations do! Don’t be happy! You acted like a prostitute {\cf2\super [84]} and left your God. You did your sexual sin {\cf2\super [85]} on every threshing floor. {\cf2\super [86]}
They must not offer any more sacrifices to their ‘goat idols’! They have chased after those other gods. In that way, they have acted like prostitutes. [308] These rules will continue forever!
But I will be against that person and his family! I will separate him from his people. I will separate any person who is unfaithful to me and chases after Molech.
\{These people don’t want to listen to me.\}\par But if a man came telling lies\par then they would accept him.\par They would accept a false prophet\par if he comes and says,\par “There will be good times in the future,\par with plenty of wine and beer.”\par
It will be very bad for the person that says to a wooden statue, “Get up!” It will be very bad for the person that says to a stone that can’t speak, “Wake up!” Those things can’t help him. That statue may be covered with gold and silver, but there is no life in that statue.
You will be able to look at these tassels and remember all the commands that the Lord has given you. Then you will obey the commands. You will not do wrong by forgetting about the commands and doing the things that your own bodies and eyes want.
The Lord said to Moses, “You will die soon. And after you have gone to be with your ancestors, [205] these people will not continue to be faithful to me. They will break the Agreement I made with them. They will leave me and begin worshiping other gods—the false gods of the land where they are going.
So they said to him, “Please ask God something for us. We want to know something: Will our search for a place to live be successful?”