CHAPTER 5
Hear
this,
O priests!
Take heed,
O house
of Israel!
Give ear,
O royal
house!
For
the judgment
is against you
because
you have been
a snare
at Mizpah
and a net
spread out
on
Tabor.
I
know
Ephraim,
and Israel
is not
hidden
from Me.
For
now,
O Ephraim,
you have turned to prostitution;
Israel
is defiled.
Their deeds
do not
permit them
to return
to
their God,
for
a spirit
of prostitution
is within them,
and they do not
know
the LORD.
Israel’s
arrogance
testifies
against them;
both Israel
and Ephraim
stumble
in their iniquity;
even
Judah
stumbles
with them.
They go
with their flocks
and herds
to seek
the LORD,
but they do not
find Him;
He has withdrawn Himself
from them.
They have been unfaithful
to the LORD;
for
they have borne
illegitimate
children.
Now
the New Moon
will devour them
along with their land.
Blow
the horn
in Gibeah,
the trumpet
in Ramah;
raise the battle cry
in Beth-aven:
Lead on,
O Benjamin!
Ephraim
will be
laid waste
on the day
of rebuke;
among the tribes
of Israel
I declare
what is certain.
The princes
of Judah
are like those
who move
boundary stones;
I will pour out
My fury
upon them
like water.
When Ephraim
saw
his sickness
and Judah
his wound,
then Ephraim
turned
to
Assyria
and sent
to
the great
king.
But he
cannot
cure
you
or
heal
your wound.
For
I
am like a lion
to Ephraim
and like a young lion
to the house
of Judah.
I,
even I,
will tear them to pieces
and go away.
I will carry them off
where no one
can rescue them.
Then I will return
to
My place
until
they admit their guilt
and seek
My face;
in their affliction
they will earnestly seek Me.”