Hosea 7–8

When I would have healed Israel,

Then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the ^awickedness of ^bSamaria:

For they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in,

And ^cthe troop of robbers ^dspoileth without.

²And they consider not in their hearts

That I remember all their ^awickedness:

Now ^etheir own doings have beset them about;

They are ^fbefore my face.

^3gThey make the king glad with their ^awickedness,

And the princes ^gwith their lies.

^4hThey are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker,

Who ceaseth from raising after he hath ⁱkneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

⁵In the day ^kof our king the princes have made him sick with ^lbottles of wine;

He stretched out his hand with scorners.

⁶For they have made ready their heart ^olike an oven, whiles ^mthey lie in wait:

ⁿTheir baker sleepeth all the night;

In ^nothe morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

⁷They are all hot as an oven,

And have devoured their judges;

^pAll their kings ^qare fallen:

There is ^rnone among them that calleth unto me.

⁸Ephraim, ^she hath mixed himself among the people;

Ephraim is a cake not turned.

^9tStrangers have devoured his strength, ^uand he knoweth it not:

Yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, ^uyet he knoweth not.

¹⁰And ^vthe pride of Israel testifieth to his face:

And ^wthey do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him for all this.

^11xEphraim also is like a ^ysilly dove, without heart:

^xzaThey call to Egypt, ^abthey go to Assyria.

¹²When they shall go, ^cI will spread my net upon them;

I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven;

^dI will chastise them, ^eas their congregation hath heard.

¹³Woe unto them! for they have fled from me:

^fDestruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me:

Though ^gI have redeemed them, yet they have ^hspoken lies against me.

¹⁴And ⁱthey have not cried unto me with their heart,

When they howled ^jupon their beds:

They assemble themselves for corn and ^kwine,

And they rebel against me.

¹⁵Though I have bound and ^lstrengthened their arms,

Yet do they imagine mischief against me.

¹⁶They return, but not to ^mthe most High:

They are ⁿlike a deceitful bow:

Their princes shall fall by the sword ^ofor the rage of their tongue:

This shall be their derision ^pin the land of Egypt.

VIII.Set ^athe trumpet to thy mouth.

He shall come ^bas an eagle against the house of the Lord,

Because ^cthey have transgressed my covenant,

And trespassed against my law.

²Israel shall cry unto me, ^dMy God, we know thee.

³Israel ^jhath cast off the thing that is good:

The enemy shall pursue him.

^4eThey have set up kings, ^fbut not by me:

They have made princes, and I knew it not:

Of ^gtheir silver and their gold have they made them idols,

That they may be cut off.

^5hThy calf, ⁱO Samaria, ^jhath cast thee off;

Mine anger is kindled against them:

^kHow long will it be ere they attain to ^linnocency?

⁶For from Israel was it also:

The workman made it; therefore it is not God:

But ^hthe calf of ⁱSamaria ^llshall be broken in pieces.

⁷For ^mthey have sown the wind, and ^mthey shall reap the whirlwind:

It hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal:

If so be it yield, ⁿthe strangers shall swallow it up.

^8oIsrael is swallowed up:

Now shall they be among the Gentiles as ^pa vessel wherein is no pleasure.

⁹For ^qthey are gone up to Assyria, ^qqa wild ass ^ralone by himself:

^sEphraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁰Yea, though ^sthey have hired among the nations, now ^twill I gather them,

And they shall sorrow a little for the burden of ^uthe king of princes.

¹¹Because Ephraim ^vhath made many altars to sin,

Altars shall be unto him to sin.

^12wI have written to him ^xthe great things of my law,

But they were counted as a strange thing.

^13yThey sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it;

But ^zthe Lord accepteth them not;

Now ^abwill he remember their iniquity, and ^avisit their sins:

^cThey shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴For ^dIsrael hath forgotten ^ehis Maker, and ^fbuildeth temples;

And Judah hath multiplied fenced cities:

But ^gI will send a fire upon his cities,

And ^git shall devour the palaces thereof.

IX.