Hosea 5

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¹“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. 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 ✦ ⁶When they come with their flocks and herds to offer sacrifices to the Lord, they will not find him, because he has withdrawn from them.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. ✦ ⁸“Sound the alarm in Gibeah! Blow the trumpet in Ramah! Raise the battle cry in Beth-aven! Lead on into battle, O warriors of Benjamin! ✦ ⁹One thing is certain, Israel: On your day of punishment, you will become a heap of rubble. ✦ ¹⁰“The leaders of Judah have become like thieves. So I will pour my anger on them like a waterfall. ✦ ¹¹The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because they are determined to worship idols. ✦ ¹²I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood. ✦ ¹³“When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria— to the great king there— but he could neither help nor cure them. ✦ ¹⁴I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces! I will carry them off, and no one will be left to rescue them. ✦ ¹⁵Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and turn to me. For as soon as trouble comes, they will earnestly search for me.” ✦

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Where this chapter connects

Hos 4 ·9 Hos 5 ·7 Hos 6 ·5 Hos 13 ·5 Hos 9 ·5 Hos 8 ·5 Amos 3 ·4 Amos 5 ·4

Christ at the center

God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.

How Hosea 5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Hosea videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Hosea 5YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Hosea 5David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on HoseaMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Hosea 5Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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