The People’s Apostasy Rebuked

Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you,
For you have been a (A)snare at Mizpah
And a net spread out on Tabor.
The (B)revolters have [a](C)gone deep in depravity,
But I will chastise all of them.
I (D)know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,
Israel has defiled itself.
Their deeds will not allow them
To return to their God.
For a (E)spirit of harlotry is within them,
And they (F)do not know the Lord.
Moreover, the (G)pride of Israel testifies against him,
And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
(H)Judah also has stumbled with them.
They will (I)go with their flocks and herds
To seek the Lord, but they will (J)not find Him;
He has (K)withdrawn from them.
They have (L)dealt treacherously against the Lord,
For they have borne [b](M)illegitimate children.
Now the (N)new moon will devour them with their [c]land.

(O)Blow the horn in (P)Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah.
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
(Q)Behind you, Benjamin!”
Ephraim will become a (R)desolation in the (S)day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I (T)declare what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become like those who (U)move a boundary;
On them I will (V)pour out My wrath (W)like water.
11 Ephraim is (X)oppressed, crushed in judgment,
(Y)Because he was determined to [d]follow man’s command.
12 Therefore I am like a (Z)moth to Ephraim
And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his [e]wound,
Then Ephraim went to (AA)Assyria
And sent to [f](AB)King Jareb.
But he is (AC)unable to heal you,
Or to cure you of your [g]wound.
14 For I will be (AD)like a lion to Ephraim
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
(AE)I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away,
I will carry away, and there will be (AF)none to deliver.
15 I will go away and return to My place
Until they [h](AG)acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly (AH)seek Me.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 5:2 Or waded deep in slaughter
  2. Hosea 5:7 Lit strange
  3. Hosea 5:7 Lit portions
  4. Hosea 5:11 Or with some ancient versions, follow nothingness
  5. Hosea 5:13 Or ulcer
  6. Hosea 5:13 Or the avenging king or the great king
  7. Hosea 5:13 Or ulcer
  8. Hosea 5:15 Or bear their punishment