"Hear the word of God, ye children of Israel, For God hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor loving-kindness, Nor knowledge of God in the land; There is naught but perjury and lying, Murder and stealing, Violence and bloodshed. Therefore doth the land mourn, And all its inhabitants languish. "Yet, let none bring charges, And let none reprove, Since my people are but as their priestlings. My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou has rejected knowledge I will also reject thee, That thou shalt be no priest to me. Since thou hast forgotten the instruction of thy God, I will also forget thy children. I will change their glory into shame, And it shall be, like people, like priest. The people that doth not understand shall be overthrown!" Hosea naturally, met opposition everywhere on the part of the priesthood and the hirelings of the king. Undaunted, he rebuked Menahem and the usurping rulers in Samaria, as well as the priests and the unrighteous people. "Hear this, O ye priests! And hearken, O house of Israel, And give heed, O house of the king, Since for you is the judgment. They themselves have made kings, without my consent; They have made princes, but without my knowledge. For they commit falsehood; The thief entereth in and the troop of robbers ravageth without. And they consider not in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness." Then, his heart aching with pain, and remembering the sorrow of his life, which led him to prophesy, he concludes: "What shall I do unto you, O Ephraim! What shall I do unto you, O Israel-- Since your love is like a morning cloud, Yea, like the dew which goes early away." But the people as a whole, having been taught by the unworthy prients, still believed that, in offering sacrifices, all their sins and crimes were forgiven them by God. Amos had objected strenuously to this common belief. Hosea went a step further and decried the act of sacrificing as an act of idolatry. Referring bitterly to Bethel as Bethaven (the House of Violence) Hosea replied: "Come not ye into Gilgal, Neither go ye up to Beth-aven, Nor swear, 'As God liveth.' In Bethel I have seen a horrible thing; All their wickedness is in Gilgal; For there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more. They shall go with their flocks And with their herds to seek God; But they shall not find Him; He hath withdrawn Himself from them." Every place where Hosea denounced the sacrifices, the people who heard him, but could not or would not understand, called him a fool and said that he was mad. "Yes," replied Hosea: