The Book of the Prophet Hosea 5 The princes and priests are rebuked and exhorted to repentance

 The Book of the Prophet Hosea 5

The princes and priests are rebuked and exhorted to repentance

1 Hear this, O priests, and listen, O house of Israel, and listen, O house of the king, for this judgment belongs to you, because you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.

2 The wayward have gone down to the depths of slaughter; but I will be the correction of them all.

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now you have prostituted yourself, O Ephraim, and Israel has defiled itself.

4 They do not want to order their actions to return to their God, because the spirit of prostitution is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord.

5 The pride of Israel will testify in their face: and Israel and Ephraim will fall because of their iniquity, and Judah will fall with them.

6 They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.

7 They have dealt treacherously with the Lord, for they have begotten strange children; now the new moon will consume them with their portions.

8 Blow the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah; shout loudly in Beth-Aven; after you, O Benjamin!

9 Ephraim shall be a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I have declared what is right.

10 The princes of Judah are like those who trespass; therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he desired to walk after vanity.

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

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Ephraim went up to Assyria and sent to king Jareb, but he could not heal you, nor cure 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 and go away; I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.

15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face; in their distress they will earnestly seek me.