Chapter 5

Give ear to this, O priests; give attention, O Israel, and you, family of the king; for you are to be judged; you have been a deceit at Mizpah and a net stretched out on Tabor.

They have gone deep in the evil ways of Shittim, but I am the judge of all.

I have knowledge of Ephraim, and Israel is not secret from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have been false to me, Israel has become unclean.

Their works will not let them come back to their God, for a false spirit is in them and they have no knowledge of the Lord.

And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; and Ephraim will have a fall through his sins, and the fall of Judah will be the same as theirs.

They will go, with their flocks and their herds, in search of the Lord, but they will not see him; he has taken himself out of their view.

They have been false to the Lord; they have given birth to strange children; now the new moon will make them waste with their fields.

Let the horn be sounded in Gibeah and in Ramah; give a loud cry in Beth-aven, They are after you, O Benjamin.

Ephraim will become a waste in the day of punishment; I have given knowledge among the tribes of Israel of what is certain.

The rulers of Judah are like those who take away a landmark; I will let loose my wrath on them like flowing water.

Ephraim is troubled; he is crushed by his judges, because he took pleasure in walking after deceit.

And so to Ephraim I am like a wasting insect, and a destruction to the children of Judah.

When Ephraim saw his disease and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king; but he is not able to make you well or give you help for your wound.

For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the children of Judah; I, even I, will give him wounds and go away; I will take him away, and there will be no helper.

I will go back to my place till they are made waste; in their trouble they will go after me early and will make search for me.