Hosea

¹ 'Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment [is] for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.

² And to slaughter sinners have gone deep, And I [am] a fetter to them all.

³ I have known Ephraim, And Israel hath not been hid from me, For now thou hast gone a-whoring, Ephraim, Defiled is Israel.

⁴ They give not up their habitual doings, To turn back unto their God, For a spirit of whoredoms [is] in their midst, And Jehovah they have not known.

⁵ And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And Israel and Ephraim stumble by their iniquity, Stumbled also hath Judah with them.

⁶ With their flock and with their herd, They go to seek Jehovah, and do not find, He hath withdrawn from them.

⁷ Against Jehovah they dealt treacherously, For strange sons they have begotten, Now consume them doth a month [with] their portions.

⁸ Blow ye a cornet in Gibeah, a trumpet in Ramah, Shout, O Beth-Aven, after thee, O Benjamin.

⁹ Ephraim is for a desolation in a day of reproof, Among the tribes of Israel I have made known a sure thing.

¹⁰ Princes of Judah have been as those removing a border, On them I do pour out as water My wrath.

¹¹ Oppressed is Ephraim, broken in judgment, When he pleased he went after the command.

¹² And I [am] as a moth to Ephraim, And as a rotten thing to the house of Judah.

¹³ And see doth Ephraim his sickness, and Judah his wound, And Ephraim goeth unto Asshur, And sendeth unto a warlike king, And he is not able to give healing to you, Nor doth he remove from you a scar.

¹⁴ For I [am] as a lion to Ephraim, And as a young lion to the house of Judah, I — I tear and go, I bear away, and there is no deliverer.

¹⁵ I go — I turn back unto My place, Till that they are desolate, and have sought My face. In their distress they do seek Me speedily!'