Judgment against Israel
5 “Hear this, priests,
pay attention, house of Israel,
listen, royal family!
For judgment is coming your way,[a]
because you have been a trap to Mizpah,
a snare spread out on Mount[b] Tabor.
2 The rebels are deep into their slaughter;
I am punishing them all.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel cannot hide from me,
since you, Ephraim, have been acting like a prostitute,
defiling Israel.
4 “Their actions hinder them from turning to their God,
because a spirit of fornication is in their midst,
and the Lord they do not know.
5 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him;
therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity,
and Judah with them.
6 They will go with their flocks and herds
to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him;
he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have been unfaithful to the Lord,
having raised unbelieving children.
In the coming month they will be devoured,
along with their fields.[c]
8 “Sound the trumpet in Gibeah,
and the alarm in Ramah.
Cry out at Beth-aven
Go out,[d] Benjamin!
9 Ephraim will be desolate
when it is rebuked.
I have made known among the tribes of Israel
what will surely come about.
10 The princes of Judah have become
like those who move boundary markers:
I will pour out my anger on them like water.
11 Ephraim is crushed,
broken by judgment,
because he[e] willingly pursued idols.[f]
12 Therefore I will consume[g] Ephraim like a moth,
and the house of Judah as rottenness consumes.
13 When Ephraim examined his illness
and Judah his injury,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
and inquired of the great king;
but he could not cure you
nor heal your injury.
14 Therefore I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I—even I—will tear them[h] to pieces,
and then I will leave.
I will take them[i] away,
and there will be no rescue.
15 “I will leave and go back to my place
until they admit their offense
and seek my face.
When affliction comes to them,
they will eagerly seek me.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 5:1 Lit. is toward you
- Hosea 5:1 The Heb. lacks Mount
- Hosea 5:7 Or inheritance
- Hosea 5:8 So LXX; MT After you
- Hosea 5:11 I.e. Ephraim as an individual personifying the northern kingdom of Israel.
- Hosea 5:11 So LXX; MT reads willingly went away from the command
- Hosea 5:12 The Heb. lacks will consume
- Hosea 5:14 The Heb. lacks them
- Hosea 5:14 The Heb. lacks them