Hosea 5 | New International Reader’s Version

The Lord judges Israel

1 ‘Listen to me, you priests! Pay attention, people of Israel! Listen, you members of the royal family! Here is my decision against you. You have been like a trap at Mizpah. You have been like a net spread out on Mount Tabor.

2 You refuse to obey me. You are knee-deep in killing. So I will punish all of you.

3 I know all about the people of Ephraim. What Israel is doing is not hidden from me. Now they have joined themselves to other gods. They have made themselves “unclean”.

4 ‘They can’t return to me because they have done so many evil things. In their hearts they long to act like prostitutes. They do not recognise me as the LORD.

5 Israel’s pride proves that they are guilty. The people of Ephraim trip and fall because they have sinned. Judah falls down along with them.

6 Israel will come to worship the LORD. They will bring their animals to offer as sacrifices. But they will not find him. He has turned away from them.

7 They are not faithful to the LORD. Their children are not his. When they celebrate their New Moon feasts, he will destroy their fields.

8 ‘My people, blow trumpets in Gibeah! Blow horns in Ramah! Shout the battle cry in Bethel! Say to the people of Benjamin, “Lead on into battle!”

9 The people of Ephraim will be completely destroyed when it is time for me to punish them. They can be sure it will happen. I am announcing it among their tribes.

10 Judah’s leaders have stolen some land. They have moved their borders further north. So I will pour out my anger on them like a flood of water.

11 Ephraim will soon be crushed. The Assyrians will trample all over them. It will happen because they have made up their minds to chase after other gods.

12 I will be like a moth to Ephraim. I will cause Judah to rot away.

13 ‘The people of Ephraim saw how ill they were. The people of Judah saw that they were wounded. Then Ephraim turned to Assyria for help. They sent gifts to the great King Tiglath-Pileser. But he is not able to make you well. He can’t heal your wounds.

14 I will be like a lion to Ephraim. I will attack Judah like a powerful lion. I will tear them to pieces. I will drag them off. Then I will leave them. No one will be able to save them.

15 I will go back to my lion’s den. I will stay there until they pay the price for their sin. Then they will turn to me. They will suffer so much that they will really want me to help them.’

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English Standard Version

Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah

1 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor.

2 And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them.

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

4 Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord.

5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;* Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them.

6 With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

7 They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you,* O Benjamin!

9 Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.

10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth.*

12 But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king.* But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound.

14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

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