Hosea 5:1-7

New Living Translation

The Failure of Israel’s Leaders

5 “Hear this, you priests.
    Pay attention, you leaders of Israel.
Listen, you members of the royal family.
    Judgment has been handed down against you.
For you have led the people into a snare
    by worshiping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor.
²You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia Grove.^[a]
    But I will settle with you for what you have done.
³I know what you are like, O Ephraim.
    You cannot hide yourself from me, O Israel.
You have left me as a prostitute leaves her husband;
    you are utterly defiled.
⁴Your deeds won’t let you return to your God.
    You are a prostitute through and through,
    and you do not know the Lord.

⁵“The arrogance of Israel testifies against her;
    Israel and Ephraim will stumble under their load of guilt.
    Judah, too, will fall with them.
⁶When they come with their flocks and herds
    to offer sacrifices to the Lord,
they will not find him,
    because he has withdrawn from them.
⁷They have betrayed the honor of the Lord,
    bearing children that are not his.
Now their false religion will devour them
    along with their wealth.^[b]