The Prophet Hosea

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 5 -

“Listen, you priests! Pay attention, you people of Israel! And you members of the king’s family, you also need to listen! For I will punish all of you. The things you have done have been like a trap for the people at Mizpah. The things you have done have become like a net spread out to catch the people who live on Mount Tabor.

Those who rebelled against me have now killed so many that they are standing deep in their blood. I tell you that I will punish them all.

You, the people in Ephraim, the center of Israel, I know you. I know very well what you are like, you people of Israel. You people in Ephraim, you have acted like prostitutes. Yes, you people in Israel are polluted.

Ephraim and Israel are not able to ask me to forgive them, because of what they have done. They have chosen to be unfaithful and immoral, and they do not know me, Yahweh.”

Israel is proud; because of this others know how guilty she is. The sins that the people of Israel have committed are making them faithless to Yahweh. Judah is becoming faithless, too.

They are hoping to persuade Yahweh to have mercy on them. They are coming to sacrifice sheep and cattle to him from their flocks and herds. But they will find that Yahweh will have no mercy on them because he has stopped helping them; he is leaving them alone.

They did not keep their promises to Yahweh, and they have had children by foreign women. So at the time of the new moon festivals, they will perish, together with their cultivated fields.”

Yahweh says, “Blow the trumpets at the city of Gibeah! Blow the trumpets at the city of Ramah! Shout a battle cry at the city of Beth Aven! Lead us into battle, you people of the tribe of Benjamin!

I will punish the people of Ephraim and turn their city into a pile of rubble. This is my promise to the tribes of Israel, I pledge to you all that I will do this.

The leaders of Judah are as bad as people who steal farmland by moving boundary markers; they steal land that does not belong to them. I will punish them in a way that will make them perish.

Ephraim will suffer greatly; the people will perish when I punish them, because they were determined to worship idols.

I will destroy Ephraim as a moth destroys wool; I will destroy Judah as rot destroys wood.

When the people of Ephraim realized how weak they were, then they asked the people of Assyria for help. When the people of Judah realized how weak they were, they sent messengers to the great king of Assyria. But he could not help you people; he could not make you people strong again.

I will become like a lion to the people of Ephraim in Israel; I will become like a young lion to the people of Judah. I will destroy them and leave them; I will carry them far away, and no one will be able to rescue them.

Then I will go back to where I came from; from there I will wait for them to admit that they have sinned; I will wait for them to come and ask me to help them.”

“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.

The rebels are deep in slaughter, but I discipline all of them.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled.

Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their God, for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don’t know the LORD.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them.

They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD, but they won’t find him. He has withdrawn himself from them.

They are unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

“Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!

Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be.

The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water.

Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment, because he is intent in his pursuit of idols.

Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness.

“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.

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.

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.”