Hosea 5–6

5TH CHAPTER

The Lord Announces the Verdict against Israel

¹“Listen to this, you priests! 

Pay attention, nation of Israel! 

Open your ears, royal family! 

This is my decision about you. 

You set traps at Mizpah 

and spread out nets on Mount Tabor. 

²You are deeply involved in sin. 

So I will punish all of you. 

³I know Ephraim, 

and Israel isn’t a stranger to me. 

Now, Ephraim, you are acting like a prostitute, 

and Israel is unclean.^b

⁴“The wicked things that the people have done 

keep them from returning to their God. 

They have a spirit of prostitution, 

and they don’t know the Lord. 

⁵The people of Israel’s arrogance testifies against them. 

Israel and Ephraim stumble because of their sins, 

and Judah stumbles with them. 

⁶They go with their sheep and their cattle to search for the Lord, 

but they can’t find him. 

He has left them. 

⁷They have been unfaithful to the Lord, 

because their children do not belong to him. 

Now their New Moon ⸤Festivals⸥ will devour them and their fields. 

⁸“Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah. 

Blow the trumpet in Ramah. 

Sound the alarm at Beth Aven, you descendants of Benjamin. 

⁹Ephraim will become a wasteland 

when the time for punishment comes. 

I will make the truth known among the tribes of Israel. 

¹⁰The leaders of Judah are like those who move boundary markers. 

I will pour my fury on them like water. 

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed—crushed by punishment, 

because its people are determined to chase idols.^c

¹²I will destroy Ephraim as a moth destroys clothing. 

I will destroy the nation of Judah as rot destroys wood. 

¹³“When Ephraim saw that he was sick 

and when Judah saw his own wounds, 

Ephraim went to Assyria to ask the great king for help.^d

But the king couldn’t cure them or heal their wounds. 

¹⁴I will be like a lion to Ephraim 

and like a young lion to the nation of Judah. 

I will carry ⸤them⸥ off, and no one will rescue ⸤them⸥. 

¹⁵I will go back to my place until they admit that they are guilty. 

Then they will search for me. 

In their distress they will eagerly look for me.” 

6TH CHAPTER

Israel Rejected the Lord’s Promise

¹Let’s return to the Lord. 

Even though he has torn us to pieces, 

he will heal us. 

Even though he has wounded us, 

he will bandage our wounds. 

²After two days he will revive us. 

On the third day he will raise us 

so that we may live in his presence. 

³Let’s learn about the Lord. 

Let’s get to know the Lord. 

He will come to us as sure as the morning comes. 

He will come to us like the autumn rains and the spring rains 

that water the ground. 

⁴“What should I do with you, Ephraim? 

What should I do with you, Judah? 

Your love is like fog in the morning. 

It disappears as quickly as the morning dew. 

⁵That is why I cut ⸤you⸥ down by sending the prophets. 

I killed you with the words from my mouth. 

My judgments shined on you like light. 

⁶I want your loyalty, not your sacrifices. 

I want you to know me, not to give me burnt offerings. 

⁷“Like Adam, you rejected the promise.^a

You were unfaithful to me. 

⁸Gilead is a city filled with troublemakers. 

It is stained with bloody footprints. 

⁹The priests are like gangs of robbers who lie in ambush for a person. 

They murder on the road to Shechem. 

Certainly, they have committed a crime. 

¹⁰“I have seen horrible things in the nation of Israel. 

Ephraim is acting like a prostitute, 

and Israel is unclean.^b

¹¹“Yet, Judah, I have set a harvest time for you 

when I bring my people back from captivity.