Hosea 5 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Hear this, you priests. Pay attention, house of Israel. Listen closely, royal family — because this verdict is aimed at you. You became a trap at Mizpah, a net stretched out over Tabor.

The rebels have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline every one of them.

I know Ephraim through and through, and Israel is not hidden from me. Because right now, Ephraim, you have given yourself to prostitution — Israel has made itself filthy.

Their actions will not let them return to their God. A spirit of prostitution lives inside them, and they do not know Yahweh.

Israel's arrogance testifies right to its face. Israel and Ephraim will stumble under the weight of their failures, and Judah will stumble alongside them.

They will go with their flocks and herds to seek Yahweh, but they will not find him. He has pulled away from them.

They have been unfaithful to Yahweh; they have fathered children that are not his. Now the new moon will devour them along with everything they have.

Blow the ram's horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah! Sound the battle cry in Beth-aven — look behind you, Benjamin!

Ephraim will become a wasteland on the day of reckoning. Among the tribes of Israel I am making known what is certain.

The leaders of Judah have become like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my fury on them like a flood of water.

Ephraim is crushed, justice is shattered, because he was determined to chase after what is empty.

So I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the house of Judah.

When Ephraim saw how sick he was, and Judah saw his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king for help. But he cannot heal you, and he cannot close your wound.

Because I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a young lion to the house of Judah. I — I myself — will tear them apart and leave. I will carry them off, and no one will rescue them.

I will go back to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and come looking for my face. In their desperation, they will search for me at dawn.