1Hear this, you priests, and listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king; for to you pertains the judgment; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.
2The rebels have gone deep in making slaughter; but I discipline them all.
3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute, Israel is defiled.
4Their doings will not allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don`t know Yahweh.
5The pride of Israel does testify to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble with them.
6They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh; but they shall not find him: he has withdrawn himself from them.
7They have dealt treacherously against Yahweh; for they have borne strange children: now shall the new moon devour them with their fields.
8Blow you the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: sound an alarm at Beth-aven; behind you, Benjamin.
9Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
10The princes of Judah are like those who remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
11Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was content to walk after [man`s] command.
12Therefore am I to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw] his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.
14For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver.
15I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.