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The Book of Hosea, Chapter 5:

Commentary on the Book of Hosea, Chapter 5: 

Hosea’s words now turn directly to the political and religious leadership of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God’s judgment will come to them because they have been like faithless harlots, seeking other gods to love. One of these “other gods” is the nation of Assyria whom the ancient Jews trust to help them instead of trusting God. With pointed words toward various cities, tribes, and even the Southern Kingdom of Judah, God speaks through Hosea to lay out the consequences for turning from Him and trusting other nations more than Himself. God will allow another nation to carry off His faithless people, fulfilling a divine warning given hundreds of years earlier (Deut 28:25, 63-66). God will stay away until the people seek Him out, admitting their guilt.

Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah and a Call to Repentance

1 Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For the judgment pertains to you;
for you have been a snare at Mizpah,
and a net spread upon Tabor.
2 And they have made deep the pit of Shittim; 
but I will chastise all of them.
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God.
For the spirit of harlotry is within them,
and they know not the
Lord.
5 The pride of Israel testifies to
his face;
Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt;
Judah also shall stumble with them.
6 With their flocks and herds
they shall go to seek the Lord,
but they will not find him;
he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;
for they have borne alien children.
Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Bethaven;
tremble, O Benjamin!
9 Ephraim shall become a desolation
in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel
I declare what is sure.
10 The princes of Judah have become
like those who remove the landmark;
upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
because he was determined to go after vanity.
12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim,
and like dry rot to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to
Assyria,
and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you
or heal your wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear and go away,
I will carry off, and none shall rescue.
15 I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and in their distress they will beg my favor.

*Daily Lectio Divina Question:

"Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face." (v.15) Ponder this chapter in light of God allowing people to come to the end of themselves in order that they might seek Him. Lord, how are You using every circumstance of my life to draw me toward Yourself?

Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc, or online.

Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this.
If you're looking for a good Catholic edition of the Bible, look no further.