Hosea 5

The Priests Are a Snare

¹Hear this, O priests!

Give heed, O house of Israel!

Listen, O house of the king!

because you have been a snare for Mizpah,

²they dug a deep pit in Shittim,[#Hebrew uncertain]

³I myself know Ephraim,

because now you have played the whore, O Ephraim—

⁴Their deeds do not permit them

Because a spirit of whoredom is in their midst,

⁵The pride of Israel testifies against him,[#Literally “against his face;” see 7:10]

⁶With their flocks and herds they will go[#Hebrew “flock”; #Hebrew “herd”]

⁷They have dealt faithlessly with Yahweh

Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

⁸Blow the horn in Gibeah,[#Hebrew “shofar”]

Sound the alarm in Beth-aven;

⁹Ephraim will be a desolation

among the tribes of Israel

¹⁰The princes of Judah have become

on them I will pour out

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed,

because he was determined

¹²But I am like a maggot to Ephraim

¹³And when Ephraim saw his illness,

Ephraim went to Assyria,

But he was unable to cure you

¹⁴Because I will be like a lion to Ephraim

I myself will tear and I will go;

¹⁵I will return again to my place[#Literally “I will go, I will return”]