Judgment Against Israel and Judah
1 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Listen, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you, because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread over Tabor,
2 and a pit dug deep in Shittim; but I will discipline them all.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore. Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not allow them to return to their God; for a spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord.
5 The pride of Israel testifies against him. Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity. Judah also stumbles with them.
6 With their flocks and their herds they will go to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him. He has withdrawn from them.
War, Wrath, and Repentance
7 They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord, for they have given birth to illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their portion.
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah. Cry aloud at Beth Aven, “Look behind you, O Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim will become desolate in the day of punishment. Among the tribes of Israel I make known that which is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become like those who remove a boundary marker. Upon them I will pour out My wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he eagerly followed after vanity.
12 Therefore I will be like pus to Ephraim and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
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 or heal your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, Myself, will tear and go away. I will carry off, and no one will rescue.
15 I will again return to My place until they acknowledge their offense and seek My face. In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.
