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Hosea Chapter 4
God's judgment against the sins of Israel: Judah is warned not to follow their example.
English (Douay-Rheims)
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.
2 Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood.
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 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.
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.
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.
7 According to the multitude of them, so have they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame.
8 They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their souls to their iniquity.
9 And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices.
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.
11 Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness, take away the understanding.
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.
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.
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.
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.
16 For Israel hath gone astray like a wanton heifer now will the Lord feed them, as a lamb in a spacious place.
17 Ephraim is a partaker with idols, let him alone.
18 Their banquet is separated, they have gone astray by fornication: they that should have protected them have loved to bring shame upon them.
19 The wind hath bound them up in its wings, and they shall be confounded because of their sacrifices.
Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899
Latin (Clementine Vulgate)
1 Audite verbum Domini, filii Israël,
quia judicium Domino cum habitatoribus terræ:
non est enim veritas, et non est misericordia,
et non est scientia Dei in terra.
2 Maledictum, et mendacium,
et homicidium, et furtum, et adulterium inundaverunt,
et sanguis sanguinem tetigit.
3 Propter hoc lugebit terra,
et infirmabitur omnis qui habitat in ea,
in bestia agri, et in volucre cæli;
sed et pisces maris congregabuntur.
4 Verumtamen unusquisque non judicet,
et non arguatur vir:
populus enim tuus sicut hi qui contradicunt sacerdoti.
5 Et corrues hodie,
et corruet etiam propheta tecum.
Nocte tacere feci matrem tuam.
6 Conticuit populus meus,
eo quod non habuerit scientiam:
quia tu scientiam repulisti,
repellam te, ne sacerdotio fungaris mihi;
et oblita es legis Dei tui,
obliviscar filiorum tuorum et ego.
7 Secundum multitudinem eorum sic peccaverunt mihi:
gloriam eorum in ignominiam commutabo.
8 Peccata populi mei comedent,
et ad iniquitatem eorum sublevabunt animas eorum.
9 Et erit sicut populus, sic sacerdos;
et visitabo super eum vias ejus,
et cogitationes ejus reddam ei.
10 Et comedent, et non saturabuntur;
fornicati sunt, et non cessaverunt:
quoniam Dominum dereliquerunt in non custodiendo.
11 Fornicatio, et vinum, et ebrietas auferunt cor.
12 Populus meus in ligno suo interrogavit,
et baculus ejus annuntiavit ei;
spiritus enim fornicationum decepit eos,
et fornicati sunt a Deo suo.
13 Super capita montium sacrificabant,
et super colles ascendebant thymiama;
subtus quercum, et populum, et terebinthum,
quia bona erat umbra ejus;
ideo fornicabuntur filiæ vestræ,
et sponsæ vestræ adulteræ erunt.
14 Non visitabo super filias vestras cum fuerint fornicatæ,
et super sponsas vestras cum adulteraverint,
quoniam ipsi cum meretricibus conversabantur,
et cum effeminatis sacrificabant;
et populus non intelligens vapulabit.
15 Si fornicaris tu, Israël,
non delinquat saltem Juda;
et nolite ingredi in Galgala,
et ne ascenderitis in Bethaven,
neque juraveritis: Vivit Dominus!
16 Quoniam sicut vacca lasciviens declinavit Israël;
nunc pascet eos Dominus, quasi agnum in latitudine.
17 Particeps idolorum Ephraim: dimitte eum.
18 Separatum est convivium eorum;
fornicatione fornicati sunt:
dilexerunt afferre ignominiam protectores ejus.
19 Ligavit eum spiritus in alis suis,
et confundentur a sacrificiis suis.
Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition