[1] Give ear to this, O priests; give attention, O Israel, and you, family
of the king; for you are to be judged; you have been a deceit at Mizpah and
a net stretched out on Tabor. [2] They have gone deep in the evil ways of
Shittim, but I am the judge of all. [3] I have knowledge of Ephraim, and
Israel is not secret from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have been false to
me, Israel has become unclean. [4] Their works will not let them come back
to their God, for a false spirit is in them and they have no knowledge of
the Lord. [5] And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; and
Ephraim will have a fall through his sins, and the fall of Judah will be
the same as theirs. [6] They will go, with their flocks and their herds, in
search of the Lord, but they will not see him; he has taken himself out of
their view. [7] They have been false to the Lord; they have given birth to
strange children; now the new moon will make them waste with their fields.
[8] Let the horn be sounded in Gibeah and in Ramah; give a loud cry in
Beth-aven, They are after you, O Benjamin. [9] Ephraim will become a waste
in the day of punishment; I have given knowledge among the tribes of Israel
of what is certain. [10] The rulers of Judah are like those who take away a
landmark; I will let loose my wrath on them like flowing water. [11]
Ephraim is troubled; he is crushed by his judges, because he took pleasure
in walking after deceit. [12] And so to Ephraim I am like a wasting insect,
and a destruction to the children of Judah. [13] When Ephraim saw his
disease and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the
great king; but he is not able to make you well or give you help for your
wound. [14] For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the
children of Judah; I, even I, will give him wounds and go away; I will take
him away, and there will be no helper. [15] I will go back to my place till
they are made waste; in their trouble they will go after me early and will
make search for me.
