5:1 Hear this, you priests!
Pay attention, house of Israel!
Listen, you of the house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you,
Because you have been a trap at Mizpah,
And a net spread out on Tabor.
5:2 And the rebels have gone deep in ①depravity,
But I will discipline all of them.
▷ ①Or slaughter
5:3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;
Because now, Ephraim, you have been unfaithful,
Israel has defiled itself.
5:4 Their deeds will not allow them
To return to their God.
For a spirit of ①infidelity is within them,
And they do not know the LORD.
▷ ①Or prostitution
5:5 Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him,
And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their wrongdoing;
Judah also has stumbled with them.
5:6 They will go with their flocks and herds
To seek the LORD, but they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them.
5:7 They have dealt treacherously with the LORD,
For they have given birth to ①illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their ②land.
▷ ①Lit strange ②Lit portions
5:8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,
And the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
“Behind you, Benjamin!”
5:9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is trustworthy.
5:10 The leaders of Judah have become like those who displace a boundary marker;
On them I will pour out My anger like water.
5:11 Ephraim is oppressed, broken by judgment,
Because he was determined to follow ①man’s command.
▷ ①Or with some ancient versions, nothingness
5:12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim,
And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his ①sore,
Ephraim then went to Assyria
And sent word to ②King Jareb.
But he is unable to heal you,
Or to cure you of your ③sore.
▷ ①Or ulcer ②Or another reading is the great king; or the contentious king ③Or ulcer
5:14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, yes I, will tear to pieces and go away,
I will carry away, and there will be no one to rescue.
5:15 I will go away and return to My place
Until they ①acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their distress they will search for Me.
▷ ①Or suffer their punishment