1 Against the Priests and rulers of Israel. 13 The help of man is in vain.

O ye Priests, hear this, and hearken ye, O house of Israel, and give ye ear, O house of the King: for judgment is toward you, because you have been a [a]snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

Yet they were profound to decline to [b]slaughter, though I have been a [c]rebuker of them all.

I know [d]Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou art become an harlot, and Israel is defiled.

They will not give their minds to turn unto their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.

And the [e]pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.

They shall go with their sheep, and with their bullocks, to seek the Lord: but they shall not find him: for he hath withdrawn himself from them.

They have transgressed against the Lord: for they have begotten [f]strange children: now shall [g]a month devour them with their portions.

Blow ye the trumpet in Gibeah, and the shame in Ramah: cry out at Beth Aven, after thee, O [h]Benjamin.

Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I caused to [i]know the truth.

10 The princes of Judah were like them that [j]remove the bound: therefore will I pour out my wrath upon them like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the [k]commandment.

12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as a rottenness.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then went Ephraim unto [l]Assyria, and sent unto King [m]Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.

14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp, to the house of Judah: I, even I will spoil and go away: I will take away, and none shall rescue it.

15 I will go, and return to my place, till they acknowledge their fault, and seek me: in their affliction, they will seek me diligently.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 5:1 The Priests and Princes caught the poor people in their snares, as the fowlers did the birds, in these two high mountains.
  2. Hosea 5:2 Notwithstanding they seemed to be given altogether to holiness, and to sacrifices which here he calleth slaughter in contempt.
  3. Hosea 5:2 Though I had admonished them continually by my Prophets.
  4. Hosea 5:3 They boasted themselves not only to be Israelites, but also Ephraimites, because their king Jeroboam came of that tribe.
  5. Hosea 5:5 Meaning, their contemning of all admonitions.
  6. Hosea 5:7 That is, their children are degenerate, so that there is no hope in them.
  7. Hosea 5:7 Their destruction is not far off.
  8. Hosea 5:8 That is, all Israel comprehended under this part, signifying that the Lord’s plagues should pursue them from place to place till they were destroyed.
  9. Hosea 5:9 By the success they shall know that I have surely determined this.
  10. Hosea 5:10 They have turned upside down all political order and all manner of religion.
  11. Hosea 5:11 To wit, after king Jeroboam’s commandment, and did not rather follow God.
  12. Hosea 5:13 Instead of seeking for remedy at God’s hand.
  13. Hosea 5:13 Who was king of the Assyrians.

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