Chapter 5

  Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is towards you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.  

  And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.  

  I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou art guilty of lewdness, and Israel is defiled.  

  They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of lewdness is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.  

  And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.  

  They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.  

  They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.  

  Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin.  

  Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.  

  The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.  

  Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.  

  Therefore will I be to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.  

  When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet he could not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.  

  For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.  

  I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.