1: "Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, And give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; For you have been a snare at Mizpah, And a net spread on Tabor. 2: The rebels are deep in slaughter; But I discipline all of them. 3: I know Ephraim, And Israel is not hidden from me; For now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled. 4: Their deeds won't 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 testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them. 6: They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh; But they won't find him. He has withdrawn himself from them. 7: They are unfaithful to Yahweh; For they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields. 8: "Blow the cornet in Gibeah, And the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin! 9: Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be. 10: The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water. 11: Ephraim is oppressed, He is crushed in judgment; Because he is intent in his pursuit of idols. 12: Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, And to the house of Judah like rottenness. 13: When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went 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 like a lion, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one 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."
