Hosea 4:13

"They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery."

This verse enlarges upon the public conduct of the people who had turned away from God to worship pagan idols. The places mentioned, the mountain tops and hills, were chosen after the prejudice and blindness of paganism, because they were alleged to be closer to the residence of the so-called gods they adored. The good shades of large oaks, poplars and terebinths were also utilized as places of their depraved worship, because of, "their affording relief from the scorching sun, secrecy for licentious rites, and a sort of solemn awe felt in such shadows."[33] Apparently, the mention of the terebinth tree was for the purpose of showing that smaller and less ample shade trees were pressed into the service of pagan worshippers, due to the proliferation of their godless rites. "The terebinth ("pistacia terebinthus") was a small tree resembling the ash, but smaller, and the original source of turpentine."[34]

God had specifically commanded that upon their entry into Canaan, the Israelites should "utterly destroy" all of the places of pagan worship on the mountaintops and high hills and under every green tree (Deuteronomy 12:2); but instead of obeying God, they set up their own pagan idol worship in exactly the same places (2 Kings 17:10,11).

"Therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery ..." Smith noted that, "This is one of the few passages in the Old Testament which deliberately places women upon the same level of responsibility as men."[35] Under their pagan system, there was respect neither for womanhood nor the sacred ties of marriage. Men who frequented high places and shrines and submitted to the enticements of their immoral pleasures should not have been surprised that their own wives and daughters also engaged in immorality. This passage "assumes that God will judge men upon the same basis as women; there is no double sexual ethic."[36]