Hosea 5

1 Hear this, priests, and pay attention, house of Israel, and listen closely, house of the king. For there is a judgment against you, because you have become a trap for those you watched over, and a net stretched out over Tabor.

Hear this, priests! Attend, Israelites! Listen, royal family! For you is the judgment: a snare you have become at Mizpeh, and a net spread out on Tabor,

2 And you have led astray victims into the depths, though I am the teacher of them all.

the rebels are deep in slaughter, but I will discipline all.

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel has not been hidden from me, yet now Ephraim has committed fornication, and Israel has been contaminated.

I know Ephraim, Israel is not hidden from me, for you, Ephraim, have committed prostitution and Israel is defiled.

4 They will not set their thoughts to return to their God, for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.

Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of prostitution is within them, they do not know the Lord.

5 And the arrogance of Israel will answer to his face. And Israel and Ephraim will fall in their iniquity, and even Judah will fall with them.

Israel’s arrogance testifies against them, Israel, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin, and Judah also stumbles with them.

6 With their flocks and their herds, they will go to seek the Lord, and they will not find him. He has taken himself away from them.

With their sheep and their cattle they will go to seek the Lord but they will not find him, he has withdrawn from them,

7 They have sinned against the Lord. For they have conceived sons that are strangers. Now one month will devour them with all their own.

for they have been untrue to the Lord, their children are strangers. Their new moon festivals will soon destroy them and their fields.

8 Sound the bugle in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Shout in Bethaven, behind your back, O Benjamin.

Blow the trumpet in Gibeah, the clarion in Ramah! Raise the alarm in Beth-aven: we are with you, Benjamin!

9 Ephraim will be in desolation on the day of correction, for within the tribes of Israel, I have revealed faith.

Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of punishment, concerning the tribes of Israel I make known what is certain.

10 The leaders of Judah have become like those who assume the end. I will pour my wrath over them like water.

The princes of Israel have become like thieves who move boundary stones. On them I will pour out my wrath like a flood.

11 Ephraim has been enduring malicious slander and broken judgment, because he began to go after filth.

Ephraim will be oppressed, crushed by judgment, for they are determined to go after vanity.

12 And I will be like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.

So I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rottenness to the house of Judah.

13 And Ephraim saw his own weakness, and Judah his chains. And Ephraim went to Assur, and he sent to the Avenging king. But he will not be able to heal you, nor is he able to release you from your chains.

For when Ephraim saw their sickness and Israel their wound, Ephraim turned to Assyria, to its patron king. But he cannot heal you nor relieve you of your wound.

14 For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion’s offspring to the house of Judah. I myself will seize and go forth. I will take away, and there is no one who can rescue.

For I myself will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, yes I, will rend and go my way, I will carry off and none will rescue.

15 I will go and return to my place, until you shall grow faint and seek my face.

I will return to my place, until in remorse they seek my presence. When they are in distress they will quickly seek me,