Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah

¹ “Hear this, O priests!
Take heed, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For yours is the judgment,
Because you have been a snare to Mizpah
And a net spread on Tabor.
² The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter,
Though I rebuke them all.
³ I know Ephraim,
And Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry;
Israel is defiled.
⁴ “ They do not direct their deeds
Toward turning to their God,
For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
And they do not know the LORD.
⁵ The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also stumbles with them.
⁶ “ With their flocks and herds
They shall go to seek the LORD,
But they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn Himself from them.
⁷ They have dealt treacherously with the LORD,
For they have begotten pagan children.
Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.
⁸ “ Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah!
Cry aloud at Beth Aven,

‘ Look behind you, O Benjamin!’
⁹ Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
¹⁰ “ The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark;
I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked by human precept.
¹² Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,
And to the house of Judah like rottenness.
¹³ “ When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his wound,
Then Ephraim went to Assyria
And sent to King Jareb;
Yet he cannot cure you,
Nor heal you of 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 them and go away;
I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.
¹⁵ I will return again to My place
Till they acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”