Judgment for Betrayal
5 Hear this, O priests!
Pay attention, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you:
For you were a snare at Mizpah
and a net spread on Tabor.
2 Rebels were deep in slaughter,
so I am a chastisement for them all.
3 I myself have known Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from Me.
For now, Ephraim, you are a prostitute—
Israel is defiled!
4 They will not give up their evil deeds
to return to their God.
For a spirit of prostitution is in them,
and Adonai they have not known.
5 The Pride of Israel will answer to his face:
Israel and Ephraim will stagger in their iniquity,
Judah also will stumble with them.
6 With their flocks and with their herds
they will go to seek Adonai,
but they will not find Him—
He has withdrawn from them.
7 They have betrayed Adonai,
for they have begotten foreign children.
Now the New Moon will devour them,
with their portions.
8 Blow a shofar in Gibeah,
a trumpet in Ramah!
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
“Behind you, Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will be become desolate
in the day of rebuke.
Among the tribes of Israel
I made known what is certain.
10 The princes of Judah were like those who move a boundary mark.
I pour out My fury on them like water.
11 Oppressed is Ephraim,
crushed by judgment,
for he willingly followed a worthless thing.
12 So, I will be like a moth to Ephraim
and like decay to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria
and sent envoys to a warring king.
But he cannot heal you
nor will he cure your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear and go away.
I will carry off, and nobody will rescue.
15 I will go and return to My place
until they admit their guilt.
Then they will seek My face.
In their distress they will seek Me earnestly: