Hosea 5

1Hear this, O priests; pay attention, house of Israel; and give ear, house of the king. For the judgment is for you, because you have been a trap at Mizpah and a net spread out upon Tabor.

2The rebels have gone deep into slaughter, but I am a rebuke to all of them.

3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute; Israel is defiled.

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

5The pride of Israel testifies against him, and Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their guilt; Judah also will stumble with them.

6With their flocks and with their herds they will go to seek Yahweh, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

7They have dealt faithlessly with Yahweh, for they have borne foreign children. Now the new moon will devour them with their portions.

8Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; raise the battle cry at Beth-aven: “Behind you, Benjamin!”

9Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel I have made known what is sure.

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

11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to walk after filth.

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, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb; but he cannot heal you, nor can he cure your wound.

14For I am like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah; I, I myself, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there is no one to rescue.

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