Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
In this chapter he reproves the people and priests for their sins in the eleven years interregnum which followed Jeroboam's death; hence, there is no mention of the king or his family; and in Hosea 4:2 bloodshed and other evils usual in a civil war are specified.
Ye children of Israel - the ten tribes. No allusion is made in this chapter to the King, as there is in Hosea 5:1. Thus, as the first three chapters seem to have been written in the reign of Jeroboam II., so this chapter belongs to the period of anarchy which followed on his death. Israel's "rulers" are spoken of in the plural, Hosea 4:18, as though there were no one king at the time.
For the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land - a judicial ground of complaint (Isaiah 1:18; Jeremiah 25:31; Micah 6:2).
Nor mercy, х checed (H2617)] - including love to our neighbour in every form, beneficence, forgiveness, piety to parents, natural affection, mercy.
Because there is no ... knowledge of God - exhibited in practice (Jeremiah 22:16).