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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He has ^(C3)withdrawn from them refusing to hear the prayers of the unrepentant.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,