Verse 1
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 {a} snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
(a) The priests and princes caught the poor people in their snares, as the fowlers did the birds, in these two high mountains.
Verse 2
And the revolters are profound to make {b} slaughter, though I [have been] a {c} rebuker of them all.
(b) Even though they seemed to be given altogether to holiness, and to sacrifices which here he calls slaughter in contempt. (c) Though I had admonished them continually by my Prophets.
Verses 3–4
I know {d} Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, [and] Israel is defiled.
(d) They boasted themselves not only to be Israelites, but also Ephraimites, because their King Jeroboam came from that tribe.
Verses 5–6
And the {e} pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.
(e) Meaning their condemning of all admonitions.
Verse 7
They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten {f} strange children: now shall {g} a month devour them with their portions.
(f) That is, their children are degenerate, so that there is no hope in them. (g) Their destruction is not far off.
Verse 8
Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, [and] the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud [at] Bethaven, after thee, O {h} Benjamin.
(h) That is, all of Israel that was included under this tribe, signifying that the Lord's plagues would pursue them from place to place until they were destroyed.
Verse 9
Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made {i} known that which shall surely be.
(i) By the success they will know that I have surely determined this.
Verse 10
The princes of Judah were like them that {k} remove the bound: [therefore] I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
(k) They have turned upside down all political order and all manner of religion.
Verses 11–12
Ephraim [is] oppressed [and] broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the {l} commandment.
(l) That is, after King Jeroboam's commandment, and did not rather follow God.
Verses 13–15
When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw] his wound, then went Ephraim to {m} the Assyrian, and sent to king {n} Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
(m) Instead of seeking for remedy from God's hand. (n) Who was king of the Assyrians.