Hosea 5 King James Version (KJV)
5 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
2 And the revolters are profound to make 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 committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.
4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms 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6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against the Lord: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will 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 rottenness.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to 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 young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
Commentary
Foreign policies (5:8-15)
During the reigns of the Judean kings Jotham and Ahaz, Israel and Syria tried to persuade Judah to join them in an alliance aimed at resisting the spreading power of Assyria. When Judah refused to cooperate, Israel and Syria attacked Jerusalem,
whereupon Ahaz, contrary to Isaiah’s advice, asked Assyria for help. Assyria replied by conquering Syria and much of Israel. But Judah’s independence also suffered, because in asking Assyria for help, it placed itself under Assyria’s power (2 Kings 16:5-9; Isa 7:1-9;
8:4).
Hosea sees Israel going to battle and knows that the nation is about to bring a fitting calamity upon itself.
He also condemns Judah, who took the opportunity to seize some of Israel’s territory. He sees the inner decay of both kingdoms as a judgment of God upon them (8- 12).
When Israel’s foreign policy proved fatal, the king Pekah was assassinated by Hoshea, a sympathizer with
Assyria who then became king (2 Kings 15:30; 17:3). But Assyria could not solve Israel’s problems any more than it could Judah’s. Both Israel and Judah were morally sick. They turned to foreign nations to
help them instead of turning from their sins to God. Now they will find that God will use foreign nations to punish them. As a lion destroys a lamb, so God will destroy Israel and Judah (13-14). He will give no help to his people till they repent of their sins and seek him afresh (15).