Hear the word of Yahweh, you children of Israel; For Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "Indeed there is no truth, Nor goodness, Nor knowledge of God in the land.
In this accusation and arraignment of Israel, it is God Himself who makes the charges and pronounces the judgment.  The crime of Israel which forms the burden of God's formal charge against the nation is a specific one: "It is a breach of contract!"[2]  The sacred covenant that God had made with the chosen people had been wantonly violated and repudiated; and the specifics of it are spelled out by Hosea's delivery of God's message to the rebellious nation.  "One could literally translate part of  Hosea 4:1 as, `The Lord has a lawsuit with the inhabitants of the land.'"[3]  The whole thrust of this chapter and of the whole prophecy of Hosea presupposes prior relationship between God and Israel; and, without this basic prior condition assumed by Hosea, his prophecy would have little meaning.  As Harper said: