Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah

1Hear this, O priests!

Pay attention, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O house of the king!

For the judgement is for you;

for you have been a snare at Mizpah

and a net spread upon Tabor.

2And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter,

but I will discipline all of them.

3I know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;

Israel is defiled.

4Their deeds do not permit them

to return to their God.

For the spirit of whoredom is within them,

and they know not the LORD.

5The pride of Israel testifies to his face;5:5 Or in his presence

Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;

Judah also shall stumble with them.

6With their flocks and herds they shall go

to seek the LORD,

but they will not find him;

he has withdrawn from them.

7They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD;

for they have borne alien children.

Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

8Blow the horn in Gibeah,

the trumpet in Ramah.

Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;

we follow you,5:8 Or after you O Benjamin!

9Ephraim shall become a desolation

in the day of punishment;

among the tribes of Israel

I make known what is sure.

10The princes of Judah have become

like those who move the landmark;

upon them I will pour out

my wrath like water.

11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgement,

because he was determined to go after filth.5:11 Or to follow human precepts

12But I am like a moth to Ephraim,

and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

13When Ephraim saw his sickness,

and Judah his wound,

then Ephraim went to Assyria,

and sent to the great king.5:13 Or to King Jareb

But he is not able to cure you

or heal your wound.

14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,

and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear and go away;

I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

15I will return again to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

and in their distress earnestly seek me.