1Hear this, O priests, and pay attention, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is against you, because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread out on Tabor.
2And the revolters have gone deep in slaughter, but I am a chastisement to them all.
3I myself know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now you have played the whore, Ephraim; Israel has defiled itself.
4Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of whoredom is within them, and Yahweh they do not know.
5The pride of Israel testifies to his face; and Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also has stumbled with them.
6With their flocks and their herds they will go to seek Yahweh, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.
7Against Yahweh they have dealt treacherously, for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon will devour them along with their fields.
8Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; sound the alarm at Beth-aven — behind you, Benjamin!
9Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
10The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary marker; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.
11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth.
12So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like rot to the house of Judah.
13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king; but he is unable to heal you, and he will not cure your wound.
14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, I myself will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there is no one to rescue.
15I will go, I will return to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face; in their distress they will search for me earnestly.
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