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Hosea 5
The People's Apostasy Rebuked
1 Hear this and pay close attention, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For the pronounced judgment pertains to you and is meant for you to hear,
Because you have been a (C1)snare at Mizpah
And a net spread out over Tabor (military strongholds on either side of the Jordan River).
2 The (C1)revolters have (C2)gone deep into depravity,
But I the LORD God will chastise them all.
3 I (C1)know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, you have played the prostitute and have worshiped idols;
Israel has defiled itself.
4 Their immoral practices will not permit them
To return to their God,
For the (C1)spirit of prostitution is within them
And they (C2)do not know the LORD they do not recognize, appreciate, heed or cherish Him.
5 But the (C1)pride and self-reliance of Israel testifies against him.
Therefore Israel, and especially (F1)Ephraim, stumble and fall in their wickedness and guilt;
(F2)(C2)Judah also has stumbled with them.
6 They will (C1)go with their flocks and with their herds
To seek the LORD diligently searching for Him, but they will (C2)not find Him;
He has (C3)withdrawn from them refusing to hear the prayers of the unrepentant.
7 They have (C1)dealt treacherously against the LORD,
For they have borne (C2)illegitimate (pagan) children.
Now the (F1)(C3)New Moon will devour them along with their land bringing judgment and captivity.
8 (C1)Blow the horn in (C2)Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah the lofty hills on Benjamin's northern border.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven:
"(C3)Behind you and coming after you is the enemy, O Benjamin be on guard!"
9 Ephraim will become a (C1)desolation in the (C2)day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I (C3)declare what is certain.
10 The princes of Judah are like those who (F1)(C1)move a boundary marker;
I will (C2)pour out My wrath on them (C3)like an unrestrained flood of water. (VR1)
11 Ephraim is (C1)oppressed; he is broken and crushed by divine judgment,
(C2)Because he was determined to follow man's command (F1)(vanities, filth, secular precepts).
12 Therefore I am like a (C1)moth to Ephraim
And like dry rot to the house of Judah in My judgment against them.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his wound,
Then Ephraim went to (C1)Assyria instead of the LORD
And sent to Assyria's great (C2)King Jareb for help.
But he (C3)cannot heal you
Nor will he cure you of your wound received in judgment.
14 For I will be (C1)like a lion to Ephraim
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
(C2)I, even I, will tear to pieces and go on tearing;
I will carry off the prey and there will be (C3)no one to rescue them.
15 I will go away and return to My place on high
Until they (C1)acknowledge their offense and bear their guilt and seek My face;
In their distress they will earnestly (C2)seek Me, saying,
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