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Having thus foreshadowed the good, he continues to accuse him of what he has done badly. For he says: there is no love for mankind in you, you are deprived of the “knowledge of God” (Hos. 4:1), but there are many lies in you, you fearlessly dare to kill; wanting someone else's, you appropriate it for yourself, plotting adultery; and therefore your whole land is filled with these filth. For this reason I will bring upon you such a multitude of enemies that they will be completely destroyed, not only those living in prosperity, who, like beasts and reptiles, attack the poor, and for whom their power serves as some kind of wings, but also all others, like certain fishes swimming across the sea of ​​life. For the Prophet figuratively called the strong beasts, reptiles and birds, and the poor fishes. When this is fulfilled, he says, there will be no one judging or being judged on earth. Hos.4:4–5. “My people,” the Prophet said, “are like a quarreled priest, and in these days they will faint, and the Prophet will faint.” with him, that is, having lost My providence for you, you will become like a priest who turned out to be disapproving and deposed from his rank, and for many days you will be subject to this punishment along with the Prophets who foretell false things to you. For, according to their growing custom, he now called a false prophet a prophet. I will liken the night to your mother. And showing how the mother understands, she continues: Hos.4:6. You have become like My people, but have no skill. Since they have given themselves over to the darkness of ignorance, and do not want to accept even a small ray of light from the knowledge of God, then, rightly, enveloped in such darkness, they are likened to the night. The Prophet calls the synagogue “Mother,” and her children are “people.” For we find that this is also said in Isaiah. “What is the book,” he says, “of your mother’s remission” (Is. 50:1)? Therefore it is said: Because you have rejected your skill, I will also reject you, so that you will not be a priest to Me: and because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. And more clearly showing His beneficence and their lack of gratitude, he continues: Hos.4:7. Because of their multitude, I have sinned. I made them numerous, but they did not stop breaking My law. I will put their glory into dishonor. Hos.4:8. The sins of My people will consume them, and the people will take away their souls in their iniquities, that is, they will reap what they sow and gather the fruits of their sins. Others say that these words also include priests. Since, according to the law, they took a significant portion of the sacrifices made for sins and crimes, and taking advantage of this benefit, they did not want to expose those living viciously; then God, indignant at this, says: because you delight in sacrifices made for sins, you do not offer proper medicine to those who fall into sin; then you will be punished for their untruths, and you will be handed over to the slaughter of foreign peoples. And while stating this, he immediately added with greater clarity: Hos.4:9. And just as the people will be, so will the priest. And you, like the people, will be given over to punishment; because you have been entrusted with the healing of the people, and you, living in laziness, did not take any care of the sick. I will avenge their ways on them, and I will repay them for their plots. I will hold you accountable not only for evil deeds, but also for obscene thoughts. Os.4:10. And they will eat and not be satisfied. I will bring continuous disasters upon them, just as those who do not have enough bread are offered more food. Then the Prophet again lists their iniquities, accusing them of drunkenness and idolatry, which he calls fornication. He also adds a laughable prophecy, describing how they questioned those who volunteered to be soothsayers, and how they gave answers. Hos.4:12. In signs I asked, says the Prophet, and in my rods I told them, that is, some sought to find out by some signs what they should do, while others, using some kind of rods to assist in deception, proclaimed whatever they wanted. They dared to do this because they had acquired an inclination towards fornication. The Prophet calls this desire for fornication the spirit of fornication. And explaining what fornication means, he added: And I have gone astray from my God. Then he shows the very image of idolatry: Os.4:13. On the top of the mountains there is a kadyahu, and on a hill there is a zheryahu under an oak, and under a spruce, and under a branch tree, for there is good shelter. Enjoying under the shade of many-branched trees, they did not worship their Creator, but instead of the Creator they made sacrifices to the trees. For this, says God, you will not take advantage of My providence for you. The enemies who attack you will commit adultery with your daughters and your brides. For whatever you dare to do in secret, I will allow it to be done openly. The Prophet expressed this very thing when he said: Hos.4:14. As if they were mingling with harlots, and with those dedicated to the needs of the priest, and people of understanding were entangled with the harlot. The Prophet sometimes refers to fornication as intemperance, and sometimes as wickedness. “Initiated” he calls those who participated in the secret rites of wickedness. For as we call the Divine mysteries vouchsafed true; so the Greeks called the initiates more fully trained in wickedness. Having thus uttered the threat, he again offers exhortation. Os.4:15. But you, Israel, do not understand, and Judah: do not enter Gilgal, and do not go up to the house of them, and do not swear by the living Lord. “He” is the name of the idol that was in Bethel. This word has no meaning: eternal, i.e. existing, as some thought; it is Jewish, not Greek. This was clearly shown by other translators from the Hebrew language; because Aquila and Theodotion translated: harmful house, and Siimah: house of unrighteousness. Both are relevant. For those who took precedence there not only did not gain any benefit from this, but also received harm, becoming unjust before their own Benefactor and ungrateful to Him. And “Gilgala” is the name of a city, and, moreover, dedicated to many idols; in it Joshua circumcised the uncircumcised among the people, using stone knives for this; in it he placed twelve stones, which God commanded to be taken from the midst of the Jordan, so that they would serve as a monument to the good deed shown, and would let future posterity know how the people had made the transition overland. Therefore, it was a sign of the greatest ingratitude that this very city, in which there were so many reminders of God’s good deeds, was made the main city of wickedness. It is not without a special reason that he forbids: “Do not swear by the living Lord.” On the contrary, this prohibition is made, because those who clung to Him and swore by Him called Him the living Lord. And this can be found out from another place. For it is said: “If you take Baalim away from your mouth, and swear, the Lord lives in truth” (Jer. 4:1-2), i.e. destroy idols from the memory, trying to serve Me and calling Me the living Lord; then you will swear as one who honors the truth and abhors lies. Os.4:16. For now, like a young woman, Israel is smitten with a goad; now the Lord will shepherd me like a lamb in space. A fly that attacks cows is called a goad here; with its stings it produces such a painful sensation that the crabs (cows) overcome by it do not listen to the voices of the shepherds, and cannot graze with other crabs (cows), but run uncontrollably and rush along the rapids. Ephraim, wounded by the passion to serve idols, became like them, God says. And Ephraim, as we said above, calls the ten tribes. However, even with all this, I will not leave them unsaved, but having done that they will be taken into captivity, I will scatter them here and there, and they will not differ in any way from a lost lamb looking for its mother’s breasts. Ephraim will tolerate this, because, as if by some temptation and snare, having placed young women and other idols before him, he was jealous of the wickedness of the Canaanites, and behaving arrogantly before Me, he preferred the service of idols to My service. Hos.4:18–19. You love dishonor from your groaning. The whirlwind of the spirit will howl in its wings, those. just as birds with the movement of their wings cut through the air, making a certain noise: so Ephraim, like one with wings, will be taken to a foreign land; because My anger, like a kind of whirlwind, will carry him along and force him to remain there. He will endure this, reaping the fruits of idol altars. Μετἀ των τετλεσμἐιων in the Slavic translation: “with fornicators.”