Hosea 5:1–6:11

Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah

5 “Hear this, O priests!

Take heed, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O house of the king!

For 1yours is the judgment,

Because ayou have been a snare to Mizpah

And a net spread on Tabor.

2 The revolters are bdeeply involved in slaughter,

Though I rebuke them all.

3 cI know Ephraim,

And Israel is not hidden from Me;

For now, O Ephraim, dyou commit harlotry;

Israel is defiled.

4 “They 2do not direct their deeds

Toward turning to their God,

For ethe spirit of harlotry is in their midst,

And they do not know the Lord.

5 The fpride of Israel testifies to his face;

Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;

Judah also stumbles with them.

6 “With their flocks and herds

gThey shall go to seek the Lord,

But they will not find Him;

He has withdrawn Himself from them.

7 They have hdealt treacherously with the Lord,

For they have begotten 3pagan children.

Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.

8 “Blow ithe ram’s horn in Gibeah,

The trumpet in Ramah!

jCry aloud at kBeth Aven,

‘Look behind you, O Benjamin!’

9 Ephraim 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 lremove a landmark;

I will pour out my wrath on them like water.

11 Ephraim is moppressed and broken in judgment,

Because he willingly walked by nhuman precept.

12 Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,

And to the house of Judah olike rottenness.

13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness,

And Judah saw his pwound,

Then Ephraim went qto Assyria

And sent to King Jareb;

Yet he cannot cure you,

Nor heal you of your wound.

14 For rI will be like a lion to Ephraim,

And like a young lion to the house of Judah.

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

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

15 I will return again to My place

Till they 4acknowledge their offense.

Then they will seek My face;

In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

A Call to Repentance

6 Come, aand let us return to the Lord;

For bHe has torn, but cHe will heal us;

He has stricken, but He will 1bind us up.

2 dAfter two days He will revive us;

On the third day He will raise us up,

That we may live in His sight.

3 eLet us know,

Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.

His going forth is established fas the morning;

gHe will come to us hlike the rain,

Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

Impenitence of Israel and Judah

4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you?

O Judah, what shall I do to you?

For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud,

And like the early dew it goes away.

5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,

I have slain them by ithe words of My mouth;

And 2your judgments are like light that goes forth.

6 For I desire jmercy 3and knot sacrifice,

And the lknowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 “But like 4men they transgressed the covenant;

There they dealt treacherously with Me.

8 mGilead is a city of evildoers

And 5defiled with blood.

9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,

So the company of npriests omurder on the way to Shechem;

Surely they commit plewdness.

10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:

There is the 6harlotry of Ephraim;

Israel is defiled.

11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,

When I return the captives of My people.