CHAPTER 5

1 Hear this, ye priests, and attend, ye house of Israel, And ye house of the king, give ear, -- For to you is judgment; For a snare have you been in Mizpah, And a net expanded over Tabor.

2 And turning aside in sacrificing they are deeply fixed; Yet a correction have I been to them all.

3 I have known Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; For thou Ephraim art wanton, polluted is Israel.

4 They apply not their endeavors to turn to their God; For the spirit of wantonness is in the midst of them. And Jehovah they have not known

5 And testify does the pride of Israel to his face: Israel then and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Fall also shall Judah with them.

6 With their sheep and their herds shall they go to seek Jehovah; But shall not find him: he has separated himself from them.

7 With Jehovah have they dealt perfidiously; For strange children have they begotten: Now devour them shall a month, together with their portions.

8 Sound the cornet in Gibeah, blow the trumpet in Ramah, Blow also the horn in Bethaven after thee, Benjamin: --

9 Ephraim shall be a waste in the day of correction; Among the tribes of Israel have I taught this truth.

10 The princes of Judah have been as those who remove the boundary; On them will I pour, as waters, my fury.

11 Exposed to plunder has Ephraim been, broken by judgment; For he willingly walked after the commandments.

12 And as a moth have I been to Ephraim, And as a worm to the house of Judah;

13 And Ephraim saw his disease, and Judah his wound; Ephraim went to Assur, and sent to king Jareb: Yet he could not heal you, nor will he cure you of your wound;

14 For as a lion shall I be to Ephraim, And as a young lion to the house of Judah: I -- I will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall deliver. --

15 I will go, I will return to my place, Until they confess that they have sinned, and seek my face: When they shall have affliction, they will seek me: --