Hosea 5

1Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, house of Israel! Listen, house of the king! For the judgment is against you, because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread out on Tabor.

2The rebels have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline them all.

3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me. For now, Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.

4Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know Yahweh.

5The pride of Israel testifies against him. Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also stumbles with them.

6With their flocks and their herds they go to seek Yahweh, but they do not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

7They have been unfaithful to Yahweh, for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them along with their fields.

8Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah! Sound the alarm at Beth-aven—behind you, Benjamin!

9Ephraim will become a desolation on the day of punishment. Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is certain.

10The princes of Judah have become like those who move boundary markers; I will pour out my fury on them like water.

11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after what is worthless.

12So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like rot to the house of Judah.

13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot heal you or cure you of your wound.

14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, yes I, will tear them to pieces and go away; I will carry them off, and no one will rescue them.

15I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt and seek my face; in their distress they will earnestly seek me.