The Preacher's Bible

“Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.

²The rebels are deep in slaughter, but I discipline all of them.

³I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled.

⁴Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their God, for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don’t know Jehovah.

⁵The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them.

⁶They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah, but they won’t find him. He has withdrawn himself from them.

⁷They are unfaithful to Jehovah; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

⁸“Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!

⁹Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be.

¹⁰The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment, because he is intent in his pursuit of idols.

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

¹³“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 you, neither will he cure you of your wound.

¹⁴For 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.

¹⁵I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”