5
1 Hear ye this, O priests;
And hearken, ye house of Israel;
And give ye ear, O house of the king;
For judgment is toward you,
Because ye have been a snare on Mizpah,
And a net spread upon Tabor.
2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter,
Though I have been a rebuker of them all.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me:
For now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.
4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God:
For the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them,
And they have not known the Lord.
5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face:
Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity;
Judah also shall fall with them.
6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord;
But they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against the Lord:
For they have begotten strange children:
Now shall a month devour them with their portions.
8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah,
And the trumpet in Ramah:
Cry aloud at Beth-aven,
After thee, O Benjamin.
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke:
Among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound:
Therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked after the commandment.
12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth,
And to the house of Judah as rottenness.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his wound,
Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian,
And sent to king Jareb:
Yet could he not heal you,
Nor cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion,
And as a young lion to the house of Judah:
I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
15 I will go and return to my place,
Till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face:
In their affliction they will seek me early.