1 H ear this, O you priests! And listen, O house of Israel! And give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment pronounced pertains to you and is meant for you, because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor.

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

2 T he revolters are deeply sunk in corruption and slaughter, but I am a rebuke and a chastisement for them all.

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

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot and have worshiped idols; Israel is defiled.

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

4 T heir doings will not permit them to return to their God, for the spirit of harlotry is within them and they know not the Lord.

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

5 B ut the pride and self-reliance of Israel testifies before his face. Therefore shall Israel, and Ephraim, totter and fall in their iniquity and guilt, and Judah shall stumble and fall with them.

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.

6 T hey shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.

With their flock and with their herd, They go to seek Jehovah, and do not find, He hath withdrawn from them.

7 T hey have dealt faithlessly and treacherously with the Lord, for they have borne alien children. Now shall a New Moon (one month) devour them with their fields.

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

8 B low the horn in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven: behind you and after you, O Benjamin!

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

9 E phraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke and punishment. Among the tribes of Israel I declare what shall surely be.

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

10 T he princes of Judah are like those who remove the landmark; I will pour out My wrath upon them like water.

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

11 E phraim is oppressed; he is broken and crushed by judgment, because he was content to walk after idols (images) and man’s command ( vanities and filth ).

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

12 T herefore I am like a moth to Ephraim and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

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

13 W hen Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to great King Jareb. Yet he cannot heal you nor will he cure you of your wound.

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.

14 F or I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will rend and go on; I will carry off and there will be no one to deliver.

For I 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.

15 I will return to My place until they acknowledge their offense and feel their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction and distress they will seek, inquire for, and require Me earnestly, saying,

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!'