1. HEAR this, O priests! Give heed, O house of Israel! Listen, O house of the king! For the judgment applies to you, For you have been a snare at Mizpah And a net spread out on Tabor.
2. The revolters have [1] gone deep in depravity, But I will chastise all of them.
3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot, Israel has defiled itself.
4. Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know the LORD.
5. Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him, And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also has stumbled with them.
6. They will go with their flocks and herds To seek the LORD, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.
7. They have dealt treacherously against the LORD, For they have borne [3] illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their [2] land.
8. Blow the horn in Gibeah, The trumpet in Ramah. Sound an alarm at Beth-aven: « Behind you, Benjamin!»
9. Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure.
10. The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary; On them I will pour out My wrath like water.
11. Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, Because he was determined to [4] follow man's command.
12. Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13. When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his [7] wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to [6] King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, Or to cure you of your [5] wound.
14. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.
15. I will go away and return to My place Until they [8] acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.