Hosea5
The Priests Are a Snare
1Hear this, O priests!Give heed, O house of Israel!Listen, O house of the king!Because the judgment applies to you;because you have been a snare for Mizpah,and a net spread out on Tabor;2they dug a deep pit in Shittim,but I am a punishment for all of them.3I myself know Ephraim,and Israel is not hidden from me;because now you have played the whore, O Ephraim—Israel is defiled.4Their deeds do not permit themto return them to God.Because a spirit of whoredom is in their midst,they do not know Yahweh.5The pride of Israel testifies ⸤against him⸥, and Israel and Ephraim stumble in their guilt,and Judah stumbles with them.6With their flocks and herds they will goto seek Yahweh, but they will not find him;he has withdrawn from them.7They have dealt faithlessly with Yahwehbecause they have borne illegitimate children.Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.8Blow the ⸤horn⸥ in Gibeah,the trumpet in Ramah.Sound the alarm in Beth-aven;look behind you, Benjamin.9Ephraim will be a desolationin the day of punishment;among the tribes of IsraelI will reveal what is true.10The princes of Judah have becomelike those who remove a landmark;on them I will pour outmy wrath like water.11Ephraim is oppressed,crushed in judgment,because he was determinedto go after filth. 12But I am like a maggot to Ephraimand like rottenness to the house of Judah.13And when Ephraim saw his illness,and Judah his wound,Ephraim went to Assyria,he sent to the great king. But he was unable to cure youand heal your wound.14Because I will be like a lion to Ephraimand like a fierce strong lion to the house of Judah.I myself will tear and I will go;I will carry off, and there is no one who delivers.15⸤I will return again⸥ to my placeuntil they acknowledge their guiltand seek my face;in their distress they will search me.Logos Bible Software