Hosea 4:5-6

4:5 You stumble day and night,

and the false prophets stumble with you;

You have destroyed your own people! ¹ 

4:6 You have destroyed ²  my people

by failing to acknowledge me!

Because you refuse to acknowledge me, ³ 

I will reject you as my priests.

Because you reject ⁴  the law of your God,

I will reject ⁵  your descendants.

[4:5]  ¹ tc The MT reads וְדָמִיתִי אִמֶּךָ (vÿdamiti ’immekha, “and I will destroy your mother”), and is followed by most English versions; however, the text should probably be emended to וְדָמִית עַמֶּךָ (vÿdamit ’ammekha, “and you have destroyed your own people”). The 2nd person masculine singular form וְדָמִית (vÿdamit, “and you have destroyed”) is preserved in several medieval Hebrew mss and reflected in Jerome’s Vulgate. For discussion in favor of the MT reading, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:232.

[4:5]  tn Or “and I will destroy your mother” (so NASB, NRSV).

[4:6]  ² tn Heb “they have destroyed” or “my people are destroyed” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[4:6]  ³ tn Heb “Because you reject knowledge”; NLT “because they don’t know me.”

[4:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “have forgotten”; NAB, NIV “have ignored.”

[4:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “forget” (so KJV, NRSV); NLT “forget to bless.”