Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah
“Hear this, O priests!
Take heed, O house of Israel!
Give ear, O house of the king!
For yours is the judgment,
Because ayou have been a snare to Mizpah
And a net spread on Tabor.
2 The revolters are adeeply involved in slaughter,
Though I rebuke them all.
3 aI know Ephraim,
And Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, byou commit harlotry;
Israel is defiled.
4 “They do not direct their deeds
Toward turning to their God,
For athe spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
And they do not know the Lord.
5 The apride of Israel testifies to his face;
Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also stumbles with them.
6 “With their flocks and herds
aThey shall go to seek the Lord,
But they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn Himself from them.
7 They have adealt treacherously with the Lord,
For they have begotten pagan children.
Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.
8 “Blowa the ram’s horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah!
bCry aloud at cBeth Aven,
‘Look behind you, O Benjamin!’
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.
10 “The princes of Judah are like those who aremove a landmark;
I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is aoppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked by bhuman precept.
12 Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,
And to the house of Judah alike rottenness.
13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his awound,
Then Ephraim went bto Assyria
And sent to King Jareb;
Yet he cannot cure you,
Nor heal you of your wound.
14 For aI will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
bI, even I, will tear them and go away;
I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.
15 I will return again to My place
Till they acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.