Hosea 4:12-14

The Lord Accuses Israel

¹² My people _f inquire of a piece of wood,
and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For _g a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,
and they have left their God to play the whore.
¹³ _h They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
and burn offerings on the hills,
_i under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and your brides commit adultery.
¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for _j the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
and sacrifice with _k cult prostitutes,
and a people _l without understanding shall come to ruin.

1. Cross References
   Judges 18:5
   And they said to him, "Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.
   
2. Cross References
   Hosea 5:4
   Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord.
   Hosea 2:2
   Plead with your mother, plead - for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband - that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts.
   
3. Cross References
   Ezekiel 6:13
   And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols.
   
4. Cross References
   Isaiah 1:29
   For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.
   
5. Cross References
   Hosea 9:10
   Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.
   
6. Cross References
   Deuteronomy 23:17
   None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute.
   
7. Cross References
   Hosea 4:1
   Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.
   Hosea 4:6
   My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.