Judgment for Israel and Judah
Hosea 5“Priests, y’all must listen to this!
House of Israel, y’all must pay attention! House of the king, y’all must open your ears! For the judgment is against y’all; because y’all 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 YHWH. 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 YHWH, but they won’t find him. He has withdrawn himself from them. They are unfaithful to YHWH; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.“Y’all must blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Y’all must 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 y’all, or cure y’all’s 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.”