Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah

¹“Hear this, O priests!

Take heed, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O house of the king!

For yours is the judgment,

Because you have been a snare to Mizpah

And a net spread on Tabor.

²The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter,[#Is. 29:15; Hos. 4:2; 6:9]

Though I rebuke them all.

³I know Ephraim,[#Amos 3:2; 5:12]

And Israel is not hidden from Me;

For now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry;

Israel is defiled.

⁴“They do not direct their deeds

Toward turning to their God,

For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst,

And they do not know the Lord .

⁵The pride of Israel testifies to his face;[#Hos. 7:10]

Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;

Judah also stumbles with them.

⁶“With their flocks and herds

They shall go to seek the Lord ,

But they will not find Him;

He has withdrawn Himself from them.

⁷They have dealt treacherously with the Lord ,[#Is. 48:8; Jer. 3:20; Hos. 6:7]

For they have begotten pagan children.

Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.

⁸“Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah,[#Hos. 8:1; Joel 2:1]

The trumpet in Ramah!

Cry aloud at Beth Aven,

‘Look behind you, O Benjamin!’

⁹Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;

Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.

¹⁰“The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark;[#Deut. 19:14; 27:17]

I will pour out My wrath on them like water.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment,[#Deut. 28:33]

Because he willingly walked by human precept.

¹²Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,

And to the house of Judah like rottenness.

¹³“When Ephraim saw his sickness,

And Judah saw his wound,

Then Ephraim went to Assyria

And sent to King Jareb;

Yet he cannot cure you,

Nor heal you of your wound.

¹⁴For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,[#Ps. 7:2; Lam. 3:10; Hos. 13:7, 8]

And like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear them and go away;

I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.

¹⁵I will return again to My place

Till they acknowledge their offense.

Then they will seek My face;

In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”