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[1] O ye priests, hear this, and hearken ye, O house of Israel, and give ye ear, O house of the king: for judgment is toward you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
[2] Yet they were profound, to decline to slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.
[3] I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim thou art become an harlot, and Israel is defiled.
[4] They will not give their minds to turn unto their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.
[5] And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.
[6] They shall go with their sheep, and with their bullocks to seek the Lord: but they shall not find him: for he hath withdrawn himself from them.
[7] They have transgressed against the Lord: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
[8] Blow ye the trumpet in Gibeah, and the shame in Ramah: cry out at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.
[9] Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I caused to know the truth.
[10] The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bonds: therefore will I pour out my wrath upon them like water.
[11] Ephraim is oppressed, and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.
[12] Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as a rottenness.
[13] When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then went Ephraim unto Assyria, and sent unto king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
[14] For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a lion's whelp to the house of Judah: I, even I will spoil, and go away: I will take away, and none shall rescue it.
[15] I will go, and return to my place, till they acknowledge their fault, and seek me: in their affliction they will seek me diligently.
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