Hosea 5:8–6:6

8 aBlow the horn in bGibeah,

The trumpet in Ramah.

Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:

“cBehind you, Benjamin!”

9 Ephraim will become a adesolation in the bday of rebuke;

Among the tribes of Israel I cdeclare what is sure.

10 The princes of Judah have become like those who amove a boundary;

On them I will bpour out My wrath clike water.

11 Ephraim is aoppressed, crushed in judgment,

bBecause he was determined to 1follow man’s command.

12 Therefore I am like a amoth to Ephraim

And like rottenness to the house of Judah.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,

And Judah his 1wound,

Then Ephraim went to aAssyria

And sent to 2bKing Jareb.

But he is cunable to heal you,

Or to cure you of your 1wound.

14 For I will be alike a lion to Ephraim

And like a young lion to the house of Judah.

bI, even I, will tear to pieces and go away,

I will carry away, and there will be cnone to deliver.

15 I will go away and return to My place

Until they 1aacknowledge their guilt and seek My face;

In their affliction they will earnestly bseek Me.

Chapter 6

The Response to God’s Rebuke

1 “aCome, let us return to the Lord.

For bHe has torn us, but cHe will heal us;

He has 1wounded us, but He will dbandage us.

2 “He will arevive us after two days;

He will braise us up on the third day,

That we may live before Him.

3 “So let us aknow, let us press on to know the Lord.

His bgoing forth is as certain as the dawn;

And He will come to us like the crain,

Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

4 What shall I do with you, O aEphraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

For your 1loyalty is like a bmorning cloud

And like the dew which goes away early.

5 Therefore I have ahewn them in pieces by the prophets;

I have slain them by the bwords of My mouth;

And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.

6 For aI delight in loyalty brather than sacrifice,

And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.