5-7 “Bloated by arrogance, big as a house,
    they’re a public disgrace,
The lot of them—Israel, Ephraim, Judah—
    lurching and weaving down their guilty streets.
When they decide to get their lives together
    and go off looking for God once again,
They’ll find it’s too late.
    I, God, will be long gone.
They’ve played fast and loose with me for too long,
    filling the country with their bastard offspring.
A plague of locusts will
    devastate their violated land.

8-9 “Blow the ram’s horn shofar in Gibeah,
    the bugle in Ramah!
Signal the invasion of Sin City!
    Scare the daylights out of Benjamin!
Ephraim will be left wasted,
    a lifeless moonscape.
I’m telling it straight, the unvarnished truth,
    to the tribes of Israel.

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When they go with their flocks and herds
    to seek the Lord,(A)
they will not find him;
    he has withdrawn(B) himself from them.
They are unfaithful(C) to the Lord;
    they give birth to illegitimate(D) children.
When they celebrate their New Moon feasts,(E)
    he will devour[a](F) their fields.

“Sound the trumpet(G) in Gibeah,(H)
    the horn in Ramah.(I)
Raise the battle cry in Beth Aven[b];(J)
    lead on, Benjamin.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 5:7 Or Now their New Moon feasts / will devour them and
  2. Hosea 5:8 Beth Aven means house of wickedness (a derogatory name for Bethel, which means house of God).