Hosea

5 Hear ye this—O priests, And attend, O house of Israel, And ye House of the King give ear, For to you pertaineth the sentence,—For a snare have ye been to Mizpah, And a net spread on Tabor.

2 And a slaughter have apostates deeply designed,—Though I was a rebuker to them all.

3 I have known Ephraim, And Israel hath not been hidden from me,—For now hast thou committed unchastity, O Ephraim, Israel hath made himself impure.

4 Their doings will not suffer them to return unto their God,—For the spirit of unchastity is within them, And Yahweh have they not known.

5 Therefore will the Excellency of Israel answer to his face,—And Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity, Even Judah with them hath stumbled.

6 With their flocks and with their herds will they go to seek Yahweh But shall not find him; He hath withdrawn himself from them.

7 With Yahweh have they dealt treacherously, For to alien children have they given birth,—Now a new moon shall devour them with their portions.

8 Blow ye a horn in Gibeah, A trumpet in Ramah,—Sound an alarm at Beth-aven, Behind thee, O Benjamin!

9 Ephraim shall become a desolation, in the day of rebuke: Throughout the tribes of Israel have I made known what is sure.

10 The rulers of Judah have become as they who remove a land-mark. Upon them will I pour out like water my wrath.

11 Oppressed is Ephraim, crushed in judgment,—Because he hath wilfully walked after falsehood.

12 But I was like a moth to Ephraim,—And like rotten wood to the house of Judah.

13 When Ephraim saw his injury And Judah his wound Then went Ephraim unto Assyria, And [Judah] sent unto a hostile king,—Yet he cannot heal you, Nor will the wound remove from you.

14 For I will be as a lion unto Ephraim, And as a young lion to the house of Judah,—I, I will tear in pieces and depart, I will carry off and none be able to rescue.

15 I will depart, will return unto my place! Till what time they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,—In their trouble will they make for me diligent search.