[1] Hear this, you priests, and listen, house of Israel, and give ear,
house of the king; for to you pertains the judgment; for you have been a
snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor. [2] The rebels have gone deep
in making slaughter; but I discipline them all. [3] I know Ephraim, and
Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the
prostitute, Israel is defiled. [4] Their doings will not allow them to turn
to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don`t
know Yahweh. [5] The pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore
Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall
stumble with them. [6] They shall go with their flocks and with their herds
to seek Yahweh; but they shall not find him: he has withdrawn himself from
them. [7] They have dealt treacherously against Yahweh; for they have borne
strange children: now shall the new moon devour them with their fields. [8]
Blow you the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: sound an alarm at
Beth-aven; behind you, Benjamin. [9] Ephraim shall become a desolation in
the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which
shall surely be. [10] The princes of Judah are like those who remove the
landmark: I will pour out my wrath on them like water. [11] Ephraim is
oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was content to walk after
[man`s] command. [12] Therefore am I to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house
of Judah as rottenness. [13] When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw]
his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is
not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound. [14] For I
will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I,
even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to
deliver. [15] I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge
their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me
earnestly.
