Chapter 5

  'Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment [is] for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.  

  And to slaughter sinners have gone deep, And I [am] a fetter to them all.  

  I have known Ephraim, And Israel hath not been hid from me, For now thou hast gone a-whoring, Ephraim, Defiled is Israel.  

  They give not up their habitual doings, To turn back unto their God, For a spirit of whoredoms [is] in their midst, And Jehovah they have not known.  

  And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And Israel and Ephraim stumble by their iniquity, Stumbled also hath Judah with them.  

  With their flock and with their herd, They go to seek Jehovah, and do not find, He hath withdrawn from them.  

  Against Jehovah they dealt treacherously, For strange sons they have begotten, Now consume them doth a month [with] their portions.  

  Blow ye a cornet in Gibeah, a trumpet in Ramah, Shout, O Beth-Aven, after thee, O Benjamin.  

  Ephraim is for a desolation in a day of reproof, Among the tribes of Israel I have made known a sure thing.  

  Princes of Judah have been as those removing a border, On them I do pour out as water My wrath.  

  Oppressed is Ephraim, broken in judgment, When he pleased he went after the command.  

  And I [am] as a moth to Ephraim, And as a rotten thing to the house of Judah.  

  And see doth Ephraim his sickness, and Judah his wound, And Ephraim goeth unto Asshur, And sendeth unto a warlike king, And he is not able to give healing to you, Nor doth he remove from you a scar.  

  For I [am] as a lion to Ephraim, And as a young lion to the house of Judah, I -- I tear and go, I bear away, and there is no deliverer.  

  I go -- I turn back unto My place, Till that they are desolate, and have sought My face. In their distress they do seek Me speedily!'