Hosea 4:12

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery against their God.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Jer 2:27 : 27 They say to a wooden idol,‘You are my father.’ They say to a stone image,‘You gave birth to me.’ Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. Yet when they are in trouble, they say,‘Come and save us!’
  • Hos 5:4 : 4 Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; for a spirit of idolatry is in them, and they do not acknowledge the LORD.
  • Hab 2:19 : 19 Woe to the one who says to wood,‘Wake up!’– he who says to speechless stone,‘Awake!’ Can it give reliable guidance? It is overlaid with gold and silver; it has no life’s breath inside it.
  • Isa 44:18-20 : 18 They do not comprehend or understand, for their eyes are blind and cannot see; their minds do not discern. 19 No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:‘I burned half of it in the fire– yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?’ 20 He feeds on ashes; his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say,‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’
  • 2 Thess 2:9-9 : 9 The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders, 10 and with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. 11 Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.
  • Hos 9:1 : 1 Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute’s wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain.
  • Mic 2:11 : 11 If a lying windbag should come and say,‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ he would be just the right preacher for these people!
  • Jer 3:1-3 : 1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?” says the LORD. 2 “Look up at the hilltops and consider this. Where have you not been ravished? You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the wilderness. You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods. 3 That is why the rains have been withheld, and the spring rains have not come. Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.
  • Jer 10:8 : 8 The people of those nations are both stupid and foolish. Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless!
  • Ezek 16:1-9 : 1 God’s Unfaithful Bride The LORD’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominable practices 3 and say,‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. 5 No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; you were thrown out into the open field because you were detested on the day you were born. 6 “‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood,“Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood,“Live!” 7 I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare. 8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing that you had reached the age for love. I spread my cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine. 9 “‘Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. 10 I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty. 14 Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the Sovereign LORD. 15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. 17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them. 18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them. 19 As for my food that I gave you– the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you– you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD. 20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution was not enough, 21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 22 And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood. 23 “‘After all of your evil–“Woe! Woe to you!” declares the Sovereign LORD– 24 you built yourself a chamber and put up a pavilion in every public square. 25 At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced your beauty when you spread your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity. 26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger. 27 So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your obscene conduct. 28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied. 29 Then you multiplied your promiscuity to the land of merchants, Babylonia, but you were not satisfied there either. 30 “‘How sick is your heart, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute. 31 When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. 32 “‘Adulterous wife, who prefers strangers instead of her own husband! 33 All prostitutes receive payment, but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors! 34 You were different from other prostitutes because no one solicited you. When you gave payment and no payment was given to you, you became the opposite! 35 “‘Therefore O prostitute, Listen to the LORD’s message: 36 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them, 37 therefore, take note: I am about to gather all your lovers whom you enjoyed, both all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness. 38 I will punish you as an adulteress and murderer deserves. I will avenge your bloody deeds with furious rage. 39 I will give you into their hands and they will destroy your chambers and tear down your pavilions. They will strip you of your clothing and take your beautiful jewelry and leave you naked and bare. 40 They will summon a mob who will stone you and hack you in pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses and execute judgments on you in front of many women. Thus I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer give gifts to your clients. 42 I will exhaust my rage on you, and then my fury will turn from you. I will calm down and no longer be angry. 43 “‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth and have enraged me with all these deeds, I hereby repay you for what you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. Have you not engaged in prostitution on top of all your other abominable practices? 44 “‘Observe– everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you:“Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived north of you with her daughters, and your younger sister, who lived south of you, was Sodom with her daughters. 47 Have you not copied their behavior and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were! 48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as wickedly as you and your daughters have behaved. 49 “‘See here– this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and practiced abominable deeds before me. Therefore when I saw it I removed them. 51 Samaria has not committed half the sins you have; you have done more abominable deeds than they did. You have made your sisters appear righteous with all the abominable things you have done. 52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous. 53 “‘I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters(along with your fortunes among them), 54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in consoling them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status, Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status, and you and your daughters will be restored to your former status. 56 In your days of majesty, was not Sodom your sister a byword in your mouth, 57 before your evil was exposed? Now you have become an object of scorn to the daughters of Aram and all those around her and to the daughters of the Philistines– those all around you who despise you. 58 You must bear your punishment for your obscene conduct and your abominable practices, declares the LORD. 59 “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant. 60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish a lasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will remember your conduct, and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, and then you will know that I am the LORD. 63 Then you will remember, be ashamed, and remain silent because of your disgrace when I make atonement for all you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.’”
  • Ezek 21:21 : 21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: He shakes arrows, he consults idols, he examines animal livers.
  • Ezek 23:1-9 : 1 Two Sisters The LORD’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there. 4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem. 5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians– warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired– with all their idols. 8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men went to bed with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. 9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. 10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her. 11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians– governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, 15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. 18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister. 19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 20 She lusted after her lovers there, whose genitals were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions. 21 This is how you assessed the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts. 22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look here, I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. 24 They will attack you with weapons, chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; they will punish you according to their laws. 25 I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors will die by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire. 26 They will strip your clothes off you and take away your beautiful jewelry. 27 So I will put an end to your obscene conduct and your prostitution which you have practiced in the land of Egypt. You will not seek their help or remember Egypt anymore. 28 “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look here, I am about to deliver you over to those whom you hate, to those with whom you were disgusted. 29 They will treat you with hatred, take away all you have labored for, and leave you naked and bare. Your nakedness will be exposed, just as when you engaged in prostitution and obscene conduct. 30 I will do these things to you because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols. 31 You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment in your hand. 32 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says:“You will drink your sister’s deep and wide cup; you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal. 33 You will be overcome by drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation. 34 You will drain it dry, gnaw its pieces, and tear out your breasts, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. 35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, you must bear now the punishment for your obscene conduct and prostitution.” 36 The LORD said to me:“Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds! 37 For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. 38 Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house. 40 “They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. For them you bathed, painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry. 41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil. 42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her, including all kinds of men; even Sabeans were brought from the desert. The sisters put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery,‘Now they will commit immoral acts with her.’ 44 They slept with her the way someone sleeps with a prostitute. In this way they slept with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women. 45 But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands. 46 “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Bring up an army against them and subject them to terror and plunder. 47 That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. 48 I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct. 49 They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.”
  • Lev 17:7 : 7 So they must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons, acting like prostitutes by going after them. This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations.
  • Lev 20:5 : 5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech.
  • Num 15:39 : 39 You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness.
  • Deut 31:16 : 16 Then the LORD said to Moses,“You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.
  • 2 Chr 21:13 : 13 but have instead followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. You encouraged the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the LORD, just as the family of Ahab does in Israel. You also killed your brothers, members of your father’s family, who were better than you.
  • Ps 73:27 : 27 Yes, look! Those far from you die; you destroy everyone who is unfaithful to you.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Hos 4:13-15
    3 verses
    80%

    13They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!

    14I will not punish your daughters when they commit prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men consort with harlots, they sacrifice with temple prostitutes. It is true:“A people that lacks understanding will come to ruin!”

    15Warning to Judah: Do Not Join in Israel’s Apostasy! Although you, O Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty! Do not journey to Gilgal! Do not go up to Beth Aven! Do not swear,“As surely as the LORD lives!”

  • Hos 4:10-11
    2 verses
    78%

    10They will eat, but not be satisfied; they will engage in prostitution, but not increase in numbers; because they have abandoned the LORD by pursuing other gods.

    11Judgment of Pagan Idolatry and Cultic Prostitution Old and new wine take away the understanding of my people.

  • Jer 3:8-9
    2 verses
    76%

    8She also saw that, because of wayward Israel’s adulterous worship of other gods, I sent her away and gave her divorce papers. But still her unfaithful sister Judah was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods.

    9Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone.

  • Hos 5:3-4
    2 verses
    75%

    3I know Ephraim all too well; the evil of Israel is not hidden from me. For you have engaged in prostitution, O Ephraim; Israel has defiled itself.

    4Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; for a spirit of idolatry is in them, and they do not acknowledge the LORD.

  • 20The Lord Expresses His Exasperation at Judah’s Persistent Idolatry“Indeed, long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. You said,‘I will not serve you.’ Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.

  • 7The LORD asked,“How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.

  • 18The Shameful Sinners Will Be Brought to Shame They consume their alcohol, then engage in cult prostitution; they dearly love their shameful behavior.

  • 15Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level.

  • 6When Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me,“Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.

  • 27They say to a wooden idol,‘You are my father.’ They say to a stone image,‘You gave birth to me.’ Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. Yet when they are in trouble, they say,‘Come and save us!’

  • 5For their mother has committed adultery; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said,“I will seek out my lovers; they are the ones who give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine.

  • 39They were defiled by their deeds, and unfaithful in their actions.

  • 11Has a nation ever changed its gods(even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, for a god that cannot help them at all!

  • 4Taunt against the Harlot City“Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute– a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, who enslaves nations by her harlotry, and entices peoples by her sorcery–

  • 15The LORD says to the people of Judah,“What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? Many of you have done wicked things. Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?

  • 8The people of those nations are both stupid and foolish. Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless!

  • 6“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have allowed them to go astray. They have wandered around in the mountains. They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. They have forgotten their resting place.

  • 7My people are obsessed with turning away from me; they call to Baal, but he will never exalt them!

  • 12Oppressors treat my people cruelly; creditors rule over them. My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions.

  • 22The LORD answered,“This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good.”

  • 37For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, they have passed through the fire as food to their idols.

  • 17You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them.

  • 2“Look up at the hilltops and consider this. Where have you not been ravished? You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the wilderness. You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.

  • 13“Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

  • 16and you then take his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well.

  • 1Egypt Will Prove Unreliable“The rebellious children are as good as dead,” says the LORD,“those who make plans without consulting me, who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, and thereby compound their sin.

  • 2Even now they persist in sin! They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is a saying about them:“Those who sacrifice to the calf idol are calf kissers!”

  • 14They do not pray to me, but howl in distress on their beds; They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from me.

  • 17The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.

  • 8They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral; they do so right beside every altar! They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple of their God!

  • 20But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” says the LORD.

  • 35“‘Therefore O prostitute, Listen to the LORD’s message:

  • 1An Illustration of God’s Love for Idolatrous Israel The LORD said to me,“Go, show love to your wife again, even though she loves another man and continually commits adultery. Likewise, the LORD loves the Israelites although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.”

  • 1Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute’s wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

  • 2For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.

  • 18They abandoned the temple of the LORD God of their ancestors, and worshiped the Asherah poles and idols. Because of this sinful activity, God was angry with Judah and Jerusalem.

  • 17But they did not obey their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the LORD’s commands, but they did not.

  • 30I will do these things to you because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols.

  • 3For the religion of these people is worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools.

  • 17who leaves the husband from her younger days, and has ignored her marriage covenant made before God.

  • 10When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. I viewed your ancestors like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season. Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame– they became as detestable as what they loved.

  • 10They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

  • 14Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to the gods called Baal, as their fathers taught them to do.

  • 7Even these men stagger because of wine, they stumble around because of beer– priests and prophets stagger because of beer, they are confused because of wine, they stumble around because of beer; they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, they totter while making legal decisions.

  • 4Beware sinful nation, the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things. They have abandoned the LORD, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. They are alienated from him.