for on account ¹  of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man ²  preys on your precious life. ³ 

The man ¹  who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, ²  but whoever associates ³  with prostitutes wastes ⁴  his wealth. ⁵ 

How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! ¹  She was once a center of ²  justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers. ³ 

“Take the harp, go through the city, forgotten prostitute! Play it well, play lots of songs, so you’ll be noticed!” ¹ 

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. ¹  You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.

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. ¹ 

You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your sexually aroused neighbors, ¹  multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger.

“Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. ¹  She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians ²  – warriors ³ 

Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt.

I will do these things to you ¹  because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols.

They 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. ¹ 

and they cast lots for my people. They traded ¹  a boy for a prostitute; they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. ² 

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. ¹  You also killed your brothers, members of your father’s family, ²  who were better than you.

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize ¹  how I was crushed by their unfaithful ²  heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves ³  because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

When the Lord first spoke ¹  through ²  Hosea, he ³  said to him, ⁴  “Go marry ⁵  a prostitute ⁶  who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, ⁷  because the nation ⁸  continually commits spiritual prostitution ⁹  by turning away from the Lord.”

I 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: ¹  “A people that lacks understanding will come to ruin!”

All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces; all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire. ¹  I will make a waste heap ²  of all her images. Since ³  she gathered the metal ⁴  as a prostitute collects her wages, the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.” ⁵ 

After three months Judah was told, ¹  “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, ²  and as a result she has become pregnant.” ³  Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”

Be careful ¹  not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when ²  they prostitute themselves ³  to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, ⁴  you will eat from his sacrifice;

So they must no longer offer ¹  their sacrifices to the goat demons, ²  acting like prostitutes by going after them. ³  This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations. ⁴