> [[hosea-04|← Previous]] | [[hosea-00|TOC]] | [[hosea-06|Next →]] --- # Hosea, Chapter 5 ## Chapter 5 ### Guilt of the Religious and Political Leaders 1 Hear this, priests, ^hosea-05-1 Pay attention, house of Israel, Household of the king, give ear! For you are responsible for judgment. But you have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread upon Tabor, 2 a pit dug deep in Shittim. ^hosea-05-2 Now I will discipline them all. 3 I know Ephraim, ^hosea-05-3 and Israel is not hidden from me: Now, Ephraim, you have practiced prostitution, Israel is defiled. 4 Their deeds do not allow them ^hosea-05-4 to return to their God; For the spirit of prostitution is in them, and they do not know the LORD. 5 The arrogance of Israel bears witness against him; ^hosea-05-5 Israel and Ephraim stumble because of their iniquity, and Judah stumbles with them. 6 With their flocks and herds they will go ^hosea-05-6 to seek the LORD, but will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. 7 They have betrayed the LORD, ^hosea-05-7 for they have borne illegitimate children; Now the new moon will devour them together with their fields. ### Political Upheavals 8 Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, ^hosea-05-8 the trumpet in Ramah! Sound the alarm in Beth-aven: “Look behind you, Benjamin!” 9 Ephraim shall become a wasteland ^hosea-05-9 on the day of punishment: Among the tribes of Israel I announce what is sure to be. 10 The princes of Judah have become ^hosea-05-10 like those who move a boundary line; Upon them I will pour out my wrath like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed by judgment, ^hosea-05-11 for he has willingly gone after filth! 12 I am like a moth for Ephraim, ^hosea-05-12 like rot for the house of Judah. 13 When Ephraim saw his infirmity, ^hosea-05-13 and Judah his sore, Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he cannot heal you, nor take away your sore. 14 For I am like a lion to Ephraim, ^hosea-05-14 like a young lion to the house of Judah; It is I who tear the prey and depart, I carry it away and no one can save it. ### Insincere Conversion 15 I will go back to my place ^hosea-05-15 until they make reparation and seek my presence. In their affliction, they shall look for me. \* (5:1) For you…judgment: possibly “for you are called to judgment.” \* (5:1] – [2) Mizpah: several places bear this name; the best known is in Benjamin ([1 Sm 7:6], [16]; [10:17]). Perhaps this is a wordplay on *mishpat*, “justice,” “judgment.” Tabor: the mountain that dominates the valley of Jezreel. Shittim: in Transjordan, where Israel committed its first act of idolatry with the Baal of Peor ([9:10]; cf. [Nm 25]). At these three places the leaders had misled the people by an idolatrous cult or by an abuse of justice. \* (5:7) New moon: normally a feast day of joy ([2:13]), but, because of infidelity, it will be a day of destruction. \* (5:8] – [14) This passage describes political and military conflict between Judah and Israel. Perhaps some allusion is made to the Syro-Ephraimite war of 735–734 B.C., when a coalition of Arameans and Israelites attempted to dethrone the king of Judah ([[2-kings-16|2 Kgs 16]]:5; [Is 7:1] – [9]). Judah repulsed the attempt with the aid of Assyria, and the latter devastated both Aram and Israel. \* (5:8) A vision of invasion, from Gibeah and Ramah in northern Judah, into Israel. \* (5:10) Move a boundary line: invasion by Judah (v. [8]) is compared to a case of social injustice ([Dt 19:14]; [27:17]; [Prv 23:10] – [11]). \* (5:11) Filth: Ephraim’s reliance on foreign nations and their gods. \* (5:13) Ephraim went…king: in 738 the Israelite king Menahem had to pay tribute to the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, whose vassal he became ([[2-kings-15|2 Kgs 15]]:19 – [20]). Under the threat of the Syro-Ephraimite invasion King Ahaz of Judah also submitted to Tiglath-pileser ([[2-kings-16|2 Kgs 16]]:7 – [9]). Great king: Heb. *melek-yarev*; may be a proper name: King Yarev, but unknown; or “the defender king”: irony about the great king of Assyria (see note on [10:6]). a. (5:1) [Mi 3:1]. b. (5:4) [Jer 13:23]. c. (5:6) [Is 55:6]; [Jer 29:13]; [Am 5:4] – [6]; [8:12]; [Jn 7:34]. d. (5:8) [Jer 4:5]; [Jl 2:1]. e. (5:10) [Dt 19:14]; [27:17]. f. (5:12) [Is 50:9]. g. (5:13) [[2-kings-15|2 Kgs 15]]:19 – [20]; [16:7] – [9]. h. (5:14) [Is 5:29]; [Am 1:2]; [3:12]. i. (5:14) [Dt 32:39]. j. (5:15) [Jer 29:13]; [Ps 78:34]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[hosea-04|← Previous]] | [[hosea-00|TOC]] | [[hosea-06|Next →]]