Osee 5

¹ HHear ye this, O priests, and hearken, O ye house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king: for there is a judgment against you, because you have been a snare to them whom you should have watched over and a net spread upon Thabor.

² And you have turned aside victims into the depth and I am the teacher of them all.

³ I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me for now Ephraim hath committed fornication, Israel is defiled.

⁴ They will not set their thoughts to return to their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.

⁵ And the pride of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel, and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Juda also shall fall with them.

⁶ With their flocks and with their herds, they shall go to seek the Lord, and shall not find him: he is withdrawn from them.

⁷ They have transgressed against the Lord: for they have begotten children that are strangers: now shall a month devour them with their portions.

⁸ Blow ye the cornet in Gabaa, the trumpet in Rama: howl ye in Bethaven, behind thy back, O Benjamin.

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

¹⁰ The princes of Juda are become as they that take up the bound: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

¹¹ Ephraim is under oppression, and broken in judgment: because he began to go after filthiness.

¹² And I will be like a moth to Ephraim: and like rottenness to the house of Juda.

¹³ And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda his band: and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from you.

¹⁴ For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion’s whelp to the house of Juda: I, I will catch, and go: I will take away, and there is none that can rescue.

¹⁵ I will go and return to my place: until you are consumed, and seek my face.