Hosea 5

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

Hear this, O ye priests, and hearken, ye house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king, for unto you pertain the judgment; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon 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.

And the revolters are gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them 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, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou hast committed whoredom, 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 doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not 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 doth testify to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble 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They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him: he hath withdrawn himself from them.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.

They have dealt treacherously against the LORD; for they have borne strange children: now shall the new moon devour them with their fields.

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

Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: sound an alarm at Beth-aven; behind thee, O 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 shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.

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 Judah are like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

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

Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was content to walk after the command.

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

Therefore am I unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

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.

When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw] his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither shall he cure 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 will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, 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, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.