Hosea 5

1 Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, house of Israel! Listen, members of the royal family!

Hear these things, you priests; and attend, O house of Israel; and listen, O house of the king; for the controversy is with you, because you have been a snare in Scopia, and as a net spread on Itabyrium,

2 Judgment belongs with you because you have been a snare set at Mizpah and a net spread out on Tabor. You dug a deep trap in Shittim, but I will punish you for all these things you have done.

which they that hunt the prey have fixed: but I will correct you.

3 I know Ephraim very well, and Israel cannot hide from me, for now Ephraim is a prostitute and Israel is defiled.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not far from me: for now Ephraim has gone grievously a-whoring, Israel is defiled.

4 Your actions stop you from coming back to your God for a spirit of prostitution is within you and you do not know the Lord.

They have not framed their counsels to return to their God, for the spirit of fornication is in them, and they have not known the Lord.

5 Israel's pride speaks against them, right in the face. Israel and Ephraim will stumble because of their guilt, and Judah will stumble along with them.

And the pride of Israel shall be brought low before his face; and Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquities; and Judas also shall fall with them.

6 They will go to seek the Lord with their herds and flocks, but they will not find him, for he has given up on them.

They shall go with sheep and calves diligently to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him, for he has withdrawn himself from them.

7 They have been unfaithful to the Lord and have had children that are not his. Now the New Moon will destroy them along with their fields.

For they have forsaken the Lord; for strange children have been born to them: now shall the cankerworm devour them and their heritages.

8 Blow the horn in Gibeah! Sound the trumpet in Ramah! Shout an alarm in Beth-aven! Lead the way, Benjamin!

Blow you the trumpet on the hills, sound aloud on the heights: proclaim in the house of On, Benjamin is amazed.

9 Ephraim will be left desolate on the day of punishment. Among the tribes of Israel I will reveal what is the real truth.

Ephraim has come to nothing in the days of reproof: in the tribes of Israel I have shown faithful [dealings].

10 The rulers of Judah have become thieves like those who illegally move boundaries. I will pour out my anger like water upon them.

The princes of Juda became as they that removed the bounds: I will pour out upon them my fury as water.

11 The people of Ephraim are crushed, smashed to pieces in judgment because they were determined to follow human commands.

Ephraim altogether prevailed against his adversary, he trod judgment under foot, for he began to go after vanities.

12 I am like a maggot to Ephraim, and like something rotten to the people of Judah.

Therefore I [will be] as consternation to Ephraim, and as a goad to the house of Juda.

13 When Ephraim saw how sick they were, and Judah saw how wounded they were, Ephraim turned to the great king of Assyria for help, but he could not heal them or cure their wounds.

And Ephraim saw his disease, and Judas his pain; then Ephraim went to the Assyrians, and sent ambassadors to king Jarim: but he could not heal you, and your pain shall in nowise cease from you.

14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a fierce lion to the people of Judah. I will come and tear them to pieces, and carry them off, and no one will be able to rescue them.

Therefore I am as a panther to Ephraim, and as a lion to the house of Juda: and I will tear, and go away; and I will take, and there shall be none to deliver.

15 Then I will leave and return to where I came from until they acknowledge their wrongs, and in their distress they will seek my face and beg for my help.”

I will go and return to my place, until they are brought to nothing, and [then] shall they seek my face.