¹Hear this, priests![#5:1 Hs 4:1]

Pay attention, house of Israel!

Listen, royal house!

For the judgement applies to you

because you have been a snare at Mizpah

and a net spread out on Tabor.

²Rebels are deeply involved in slaughter;[#5:2 Hs 9:15; #5:2 Hs 4:2; 6:9]

I will be a punishment for all of them.

³I know Ephraim,[#5:3 Hs 6:4; 7:1; Am 3:2; 5:12]

and Israel is not hidden from me.

For now, Ephraim,

you have acted promiscuously;

Israel is defiled.

⁴Their actions do not allow them

to return to their God,

for a spirit of promiscuity is among them,

and they do not know the Lord .

⁵Israel’s arrogance testifies against them. ,[#5:5 Lit against his face; #5:5 Hs 7:10]

Both Israel and Ephraim stumble

because of their iniquity;

even Judah will stumble with them.

⁶They go with their flocks and herds

to seek the Lord

but do not find him;

he has withdrawn from them.

⁷They betrayed the Lord ;[#5:7 Is 48:8; Hs 6:7]

indeed, they gave birth to illegitimate children.

Now the New Moon will devour them

along with their fields.

⁸Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah,[#5:8 Hs 9:9; 10:9]

the trumpet in Ramah;

raise the war cry in Beth-aven:

Look behind you, Benjamin!

⁹Ephraim will become a desolation[#5:9 Is 28:1–4; Hs 9:11–17]

on the day of punishment;

I announce what is certain

among the tribes of Israel.

¹⁰The princes of Judah are like those

who move boundary markers;

I will pour out my fury on them like water.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgement,[#5:11 Hs 9:16]

for he is determined to follow what is worthless.

¹²So I am like rot to Ephraim[#5:12 Ps 39:11; Is 51:8]

and like decay to the house of Judah.

¹³When Ephraim saw his disease

and Judah his wound,

Ephraim went to Assyria

and sent a delegation to the great king. ,

But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.

¹⁴For I am like a lion to Ephraim[#5:14 Ps 7:2; Hs 13:7; Am 3:4]

and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

Yes, I will tear them to pieces and depart.

I will carry them off,

and no one can rescue them.

¹⁵I will depart and return to my place

until they recognise their guilt and seek my face;

they will search for me in their distress.