Hosea 7–8

7when I heal Israel,^l

the iniquity of Ephraim^m and the crimes of Samariaⁿ

will be exposed.

For they practice fraud;^o

a thief breaks in;

a raiding party pillages outside.^p

²But they never consider that I remember all their evil.^q

Now their actions are all around them;^r

they are right in front of my face.

ISRAEL’S CORRUPTION

³They please the king with their evil,^s

the princes with their lies.^t

⁴All of them commit adultery;^u

they are like an oven heated by a baker

who stops stirring the fire

from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

⁵On the day of our king,

the princes are sick with the heat of wine^v—

there is a conspiracy with traitors.^A

⁶For they—their hearts like an oven—

draw him into their oven.

Their anger smolders all night;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are as hot as an oven,^w

and they consume their rulers.^x

All their kings fall;

not one of them calls on me.^B

⁸Ephraim has allowed himself to get mixed up with the nations.

Ephraim is unturned bread baked on a griddle.

⁹Foreigners consume his strength,^y

but he does not notice.^z

Even his hair is streaked with gray,

but he does not notice.

¹⁰Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,^Caa

yet they do not return to the Lord their God,^ab

and for all this, they do not seek him.

¹¹So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove;^ac

they call to Egypt,^ad and they go to Assyria.^ae

¹²As they are going, I will spread my net over them;^af

I will bring them down like birds of the sky.

I will discipline them in accordance

with the news that reaches^A their assembly.

THE LORD’S SECOND LAMENT

¹³Woe to them,^ag for they fled from me;^ah

destruction to them, for they rebelled against me!

Though I want to redeem them,^ai

they speak lies against me.

¹⁴They do not cry to me from their hearts;

rather, they wail on their beds.

They slash themselves^Baj for grain and new wine;^ak

they turn away from me.

¹⁵I trained and strengthened their arms,^al

but they plot evil against me.^am

¹⁶They turn, but not to what is above;^C

they are like a faulty bow.^an

Their leaders will fall by the sword

because of their insolent tongue.^ao

They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt.^ap

ISRAEL’S FALSE HOPES

8Put the trumpet to your mouth!^aq

One like an eagle comes

against the house of the Lord,^ar

because they transgress my covenant^as

and rebel against my law.^a

²Israel cries out to me,^b

“My God, we know you!”

³Israel has rejected what is good;^c

an enemy will pursue him.

⁴They have installed kings,^d

but not through me.

They have appointed leaders,

but without my approval.

They make their silver and gold^e

into idols for themselves

for their own destruction.^D

⁵Your calf-idol^Ef is rejected, Samaria.^g

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence?^h

⁶For this thing is from Israel—

a craftsman made it,ⁱ and it is not God.

The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!

⁷Indeed, they sow the wind^j

and reap the whirlwind.^k

There is no standing grain;

what sprouts fails to yield flour.^l

Even if they did,

foreigners would swallow it up.

⁸Israel is swallowed up!^m

Now they are among the nations

like discarded pottery.ⁿ

⁹For they have gone up to Assyria^o

like a wild donkey going off on its own.

Ephraim has paid for love.^p

¹⁰Even though they hire lovers among the nations,

I will now round them up,

and they will begin to decrease in number^q

under the burden of the king and leaders.^r

¹¹When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin,^s

they became his altars for sinning.

¹²Though I were to write out for him

ten thousand points of my instruction,^t

they would be^A regarded as something strange.

¹³Though they offer sacrificial gifts^Bu

and eat the flesh,^v

the Lord does not accept them.

Now he will remember their guilt^w

and punish their sins;^x

they will return to Egypt.^y

¹⁴Israel has forgotten his Maker^z and built palaces;^aa

Judah has also multiplied fortified cities.

I will send fire on their cities,^ab

and it will consume their citadels.