Hosea 4:12-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
12 My people consult their piece of wood,[a]
and their wand makes pronouncements for them,
For the spirit of prostitution has led them astray;
they prostitute themselves, forsaking their God.
13 On the mountaintops they offer sacrifice
and on the hills they burn incense,
Beneath oak and poplar and terebinth,
because of their pleasant shade.[b]
Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters for their prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law for their adultery,
Because the men themselves consort with prostitutes,
and with temple women[c] they offer sacrifice!
Thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.
Footnotes
- 4:12 Piece of wood: a derogatory term for an idol. Wand: a sacred wooden object, perhaps some kind of staff, used for divination.
- 4:13 The shrines on the “high places” typically had an altar, a grove of trees, and a stone pillar representing a god (Dt 12:2; Jer 2:20).
- 4:14 Temple women: plural of Heb. qedesha; the exact import of the term is disputed. See notes on Gn 38:21 and Dt 23:18–19.
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