God's Judgment on Israel and Judah

1Hear this, O ye priests, and hearken, ye house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king, for unto you pertain the judgment; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

2And the revolters are gone deep in making slaughter; but I am a rebuker of them all.

3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou hast committed whoredom, Israel is defiled.

4Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD.

5And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble with them.

6They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him: he hath withdrawn himself from them.

7They have dealt treacherously against the LORD; for they have borne strange children: now shall the new moon devour them with their fields.

8Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: sound an alarm at Beth-aven; behind thee, O Benjamin.

9Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.

10The princes of Judah are like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

11Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was content to walk after the command.

12Therefore am I unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither shall he cure you of your wound.

14For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver.

15I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.