Judgment Against Israel and Judah
5 Hear this, O priests!
Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For the judgment is for you,
because you have been a snare at Mizpah
and a net spread over Tabor,
2 and a pit dug deep in Shittim;
but I will discipline them all.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from Me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore.
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not allow them
to return to their God;
for a spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
and they do not know the Lord.
5 The pride of Israel testifies against him.
Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity.
Judah also stumbles with them.
6 With their flocks and their herds they will go
to seek the Lord,
but they will not find Him.
He has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord,
for they have given birth to illegitimate children.
Now the New Moon will devour them
along with their portion.
War, Wrath, and Repentance
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,
and the trumpet in Ramah.
Cry aloud at Beth Aven,
“Look behind you, O Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will become desolate
in the day of punishment.
Among the tribes of Israel
I make known that which is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become
like those who remove a boundary marker.
Upon them I will pour out
My wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed
and broken in judgment,
because he eagerly followed after vanity.
12 Therefore I will be like pus to Ephraim
and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah saw his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
and sent to King Jareb.
Yet he cannot cure you
or heal your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, Myself, will tear and go away.
I will carry off, and no one will rescue.
15 I will again return to My place
until they acknowledge their offense
and seek My face.
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.
Footnotes
- Hosea 5:8
- Hosea 5:13
