5
1 “Listen to this, you priests!
Listen, house of Israel,
and give ear, house of the king!
For the judgment is against you;
for you have been a snare at Mizpah,
and a net spread on Tabor.
2 The rebels are deep in slaughter,
but I discipline all of them.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute.
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their God,
for the spirit of prostitution is within them,
and they don’t know the LORD.
5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face.
Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity.
Judah also will stumble with them.
6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD,
but they won’t find him.
He has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They are unfaithful to the LORD;
for they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.
8 “Blow the cornet in Gibeah,
and the shofar in Ramah!
Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!
9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke.
Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be.
10 The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark.
I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed,
he is crushed in judgment,
because he is intent in his pursuit of idols.
12 Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth,
and to the house of Judah like rottenness.
13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
and sent to King Jareb:
but he is not able to heal you,
neither will he cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be to Ephraim like a lion,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear in pieces and go away.
I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.
15 I will go and return to my place,
until they acknowledge their offense,
and seek my face.
In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”