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God’s Word Against the Leaders

“·Listen [Hear this], you priests.
    Pay attention, ·people [L house] of Israel.
Listen, ·royal family [L house of the king],
    because you will all be judged.
You have been like a ·trap [snare] at Mizpah
    and like a net spread out at Mount Tabor [C hunting places in Israel].
·You have done many evil things [L The rebels are deep into slaughter; or You have dug a deep pit at Shittim/Acacia],
    so I will ·punish [discipline] you all.
I know all about Ephraim [C Israel; 4:17];
    what Israel has done is not hidden from me.
Now Ephraim acts like a prostitute,
    and Israel has ·made itself unclean [L defiled himself].

“·They will not give up their deeds
    and [or Their deeds won’t let them] return to their God.
·They are determined to be unfaithful to me [L For a spirit of prostitution is within them];
    they do not know the Lord.
Israel’s ·pride [arrogance] testifies against them.
    ·The people of Israel [L Israel and Ephraim; 4:17] will stumble because of their ·sin [iniquity],
    and ·the people of Judah [L Judah] will stumble with them.

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The People’s Apostasy Rebuked

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 snare at Mizpah
And a net spread out over Tabor (military strongholds on either side of the Jordan River).

The revolters have gone deep into depravity,
But I [the Lord God] will chastise them all.

I 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.

Their [immoral] practices will not permit them
To return to their God,
For the spirit of prostitution is within them
And they do not know the Lord [they do not recognize, appreciate, heed or cherish Him].

But the pride and self-reliance of Israel testifies against him.
Therefore Israel, and [especially] [a]Ephraim, stumble and fall in their wickedness and guilt;
[b]Judah also has stumbled with them.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 5:5 Ephraim was the most dominant of the ten tribes in the Kingdom of Israel, and this and other economic factors led to Ephraim becoming a synonym for the entire Northern Kingdom.
  2. Hosea 5:5 The Southern Kingdom or Kingdom of Judah consisted primarily of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. After the united kingdom divided, Judah continued to be ruled by the kings of the Davidic line. Jerusalem was the capital city of Judah.