THE BOOK OF HOSEA

 

Hosea Chapter 5

1 ¶ Hear this, O priests; listen, people of Israel; and let the royal family open their ears; for you have been sentenced, because you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread out on Tabor.

2 And your rebels are deeply involved in slaughter, though I have rebuked all of them.

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me: for now, O Ephraim, you commit adultery, and Israel is defiled.

4 Their deeds will not let them return to their God: for the spirit of sexual sin is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

5 But the pride of Israel testifies against them: therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; and Judah will stumble with them.

6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they will not find him; for he has withdrawn himself from them.

7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have fathered children who are strangers to them: now the destroyer will devour them with their fields.

8 ¶ Blow the horn in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: raise the war cry against Bethaven, we are after you, O Benjamin.

9 Ephraim will be turned to ruins on the day of punishment: I have made known among the tribes of Israel what will surely come to pass.

10 The leaders of Judah are like those who change their boundary line: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

11 Ephraim is an oppressor who tramples justice, because he is content to follow the commandments of men.

12 Therefore I will be like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his festering sore, then Ephraim went to the Assyrians, and sent to their great king: but he could not heal you, or cure you of your wound.

14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear the flesh and leave; I will carry them away, and no one will rescue them.

15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their sin, and seek my face: in their distress they will search for me.