Chapter 5
Guilt of the Religious and Political Leaders
1 Hear this, priests,
Pay attention, house of Israel,
Household of the king, give ear!(A)
For you are responsible for judgment.
But you have been a snare at Mizpah,
a net spread upon Tabor,
2 a pit dug deep in Shittim.
Now I will discipline them all.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me:
Now, Ephraim, you have practiced prostitution,
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not allow them
to return to their God;(B)
For the spirit of prostitution is in them,
and they do not know the Lord.
5 The arrogance of Israel bears witness against him;
Israel and Ephraim stumble because of their iniquity,
and Judah stumbles with them.
6 With their flocks and herds they will go
to seek the Lord, but will not find him;(C)
he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have betrayed the Lord,
for they have borne illegitimate children;
Now the new moon will devour them
together with their fields.
Political Upheavals
8 Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah,
the trumpet in Ramah!
Sound the alarm in Beth-aven:(D)
“Look behind you, Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim shall become a wasteland
on the day of punishment:
Among the tribes of Israel
I announce what is sure to be.
10 The princes of Judah have become
like those who move a boundary line;(E)
Upon them I will pour out
my wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed by judgment,
for he has willingly gone after filth!
12 I am like a moth for Ephraim,(F)
like rot for the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his infirmity,
and Judah his sore,
Ephraim went to Assyria,
and sent to the great king.(G)
But he cannot heal you,
nor take away your sore.
14 For I am like a lion to Ephraim,
like a young lion to the house of Judah;(H)
It is I who tear the prey and depart,
I carry it away and no one can save it.(I)
Insincere Conversion
15 I will go back to my place
until they make reparation
and seek my presence.
In their affliction, they shall look for me.(J)
Footnotes
- 5:1
- 5:1–2
- 5:7
- 5:8–14
- 5:8
- 5:10
- 5:11
- 5:13
Cross references
- 5:1 : Mi 3:1.
- 5:4 : Jer 13:23.
- 5:6 : Is 55:6; Jer 29:13; Am 5:4–6; 8:12; Jn 7:34.
- 5:8 : Jer 4:5; Jl 2:1.
- 5:10 : Dt 19:14; 27:17.
- 5:12 : Is 50:9.
- 5:13 : 2 Kgs 15:19–20; 16:7–9.
- 5:14 : Is 5:29; Am 1:2; 3:12.
- 5:14 : Dt 32:39.
- 5:15 : Jer 29:13; Ps 78:34.
