Hosea 5

1. “Hear this, cohanim! 1 Pay attention, house of Isra’el! 1 Listen, house of the king! 1 For judgment is coming to you. 1 You have become a snare for Mitzpah 1 and a net spread on Tavor.

2. The rebels have deepened their slaughter, 2 and I am rejected by all of them.

3. “I know Efrayim; 3 Isra’el is not hidden from me; 3 for now, Efrayim, you are a whore; 3 Isra’el is defiled.”

4. Their deeds will not allow them 4 to return to their God, 4 for the spirit of whoring is in them, 4 and they don’t know Adonai.

5. Isra’el’s arrogance will testify in his face; 5 Isra’el and Efrayim will stumble in their crimes; 5 Y’hudah too will stumble with them.

6. With their flocks and herds 6 they will go in search of Adonai. 6 But they won’t find him; 6 he has withdrawn from them.

7. They have betrayed Adonai, 7 by fathering foreign children. 7 Now within the month the invaders 7 will devour their lands.

8. “Blow the shofar in Giv‘ah, 8 a trumpet at Ramah; 8 sound an alarm at Beit-Aven: 8 ‘Behind you, Binyamin!’

9. Efrayim will be laid waste 9 when the day for punishment comes; 9 I am announcing to the tribes of Isra’el 9 what will surely happen.

10. The leaders of Y’hudah are like men 10 who move boundary stones; 10 I will pour my fury out 10 upon them like water.

11. Efrayim is oppressed, crushed by the judgment, 11 because he deliberately sought out futility.

12. Therefore I am like a moth to Efrayim 12 and like rottenness to the house of Y’hudah.

13. When Efrayim saw his sickness 13 and Y’hudah his wound, 13 Efrayim went to Ashur 13 and sent envoys to a warring king; 13 but he can’t heal you 13 or cure your wound.

14. For to Efrayim I will be like a lion, 14 and like a young lion to the house of Y’hudah — 14 I will tear them up and go away; 14 I will carry them off, and no one will rescue.

15. I will go and return to my place, 15 till they admit their guilt and search for me, 15 seeking me eagerly in their distress.”