| 1 | Hear this, O you priests! And listen, O house of Israel! And give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment pronounced pertains to you
and
is meant for you, because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor [military strongholds on either side of the Jordan River]. |
| 2 | The revolters are deeply sunk in corruption
and
slaughter, but I [the Lord God] am a rebuke
and
a chastisement for them all. |
| 3 | I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot
and
have worshiped idols; Israel is defiled. |
| 4 | Their doings will not permit them to return to their God, for the spirit of harlotry is within them and they know not the Lord [they do not recognize, appreciate, give heed to, or cherish the Lord]. |
| 5 | But the pride
and
self-reliance of Israel testifies before his [own] face. Therefore shall [all] Israel, and [especially] Ephraim [the northern ten tribes], totter
and
fall in their iniquity
and
guilt, and Judah shall stumble
and
fall with them. |
| 6 | They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord [inquiring for and requiring Him], but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them. |
| 7 | They have dealt faithlessly
and
treacherously with the Lord [their espoused Husband], for they have borne alien children. Now shall a [single] New Moon (one month) devour them with their fields. |
| 8 | Blow the horn in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramah [both lofty hills on Benjamin’s northern border]. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven: [the enemy is] behind you
and
after you, O Benjamin [be on your guard]! |
| 9 | Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke
and
punishment. Among the tribes of Israel I declare what shall surely be. |
| 10 | The princes of Judah are like those who remove the landmark [the barrier between right and wrong]; I will pour out My wrath upon them like water. |
| 11 | Ephraim is oppressed; he is broken
and
crushed by [divine] judgment, because he was content to walk after idols (images)
and
man’s [evil] command
[a](
vanities and filth
). |
| 12 | Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim and like dry rot to the house of Judah [in My judgment against them]. |
| 13 | When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to [Assyria’s] great King Jareb [for help]. Yet he cannot heal you nor will he cure you of your wound [received in divine judgment]. |
| 14 | For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will rend and go on [rending]; I will carry off and there will be no one to deliver. |
| 15 | I will return to My place [on high] until they acknowledge their offense
and
feel their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction
and
distress they will seek, inquire for,
and
require Me earnestly, saying, |
Cross references:
-
Hosea 5:10 : Deut. 19:14; Prov. 22:28.
|