Hosea 7

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