Hosea 5
1 Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, house of Israel! Listen, members of the royal family!
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 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.
the rebels are deep in slaughter, but I will discipline all.
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, Israel is not hidden from me, for you, Ephraim, have committed prostitution and 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.
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 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.
Israel’s arrogance testifies against them, Israel, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin, and Judah also stumbles 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.
With their sheep and their cattle they will go to seek the Lord but they will not find him, he has withdrawn from them,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 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 been untrue to the Lord, their children are strangers. Their new moon festivals will soon destroy them and their fields.
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah! Sound the trumpet in Ramah! Shout an alarm in Beth-aven! Lead the way, 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 left desolate on the day of punishment. Among the tribes of Israel I will reveal what is the real truth.
Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of punishment, concerning the tribes of Israel I make known what is certain.
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 Israel have become like thieves who move boundary stones. On them I will pour out my wrath like a flood.
11 The people of Ephraim are crushed, smashed to pieces in judgment because they were determined to follow human commands.
Ephraim will be oppressed, crushed by judgment, for they are determined to go after vanity.
12 I am like a maggot to Ephraim, and like something rotten to the people of Judah.
So I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rottenness to the house of Judah.
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.
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 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.
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 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 return to my place, until in remorse they seek my presence. When they are in distress they will quickly seek me,
