Hosea 7–8

7^xwhen I would heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of ^ySamaria,

for ^zthey deal falsely;

the thief breaks in,

and the bandits raid outside.

²But they do not consider

that ^aI remember all their evil.

Now ^btheir deeds surround them;

^cthey are before my face.

³By their evil ^dthey make ^dthe king glad,

and the princes by their treachery.

^4eThey are all adulterers;

they are like a heated oven

whose baker ceases to stir the fire,

from the kneading of the dough

until it is leavened.

⁵On the day of ^four king, the princes

became sick with the heat of wine;

he stretched out his hand with mockers.

⁶For with hearts like an oven ^gthey approach their intrigue;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All ^htheir kings ⁱhave fallen,

and none of them calls upon me.

⁸Ephraim ^jmixes himself with the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake not turned.

^9kStrangers devour his strength,

and ^lhe knows it not;

gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,

and ^lhe knows it not.

^10mThe pride of Israel testifies to his face;¹

ⁿyet they do not return to the Lord their God,

nor seek him, for all this.

¹¹Ephraim is like a dove,

^osilly and without sense,

calling to ^pEgypt, going to ^qAssyria.

¹²As they go, ^rI will spread over them my net;

I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;

^sI will discipline them ^taccording to the report made to their congregation.

^13uWoe to them, for they have strayed from me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!

^vI would redeem them,

but ^wthey speak lies against me.

^14xThey do not cry to me from the heart,

but ^ythey wail upon their beds;

for grain and wine they gash themselves;

they rebel against me.

¹⁵Although ^zI trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they devise evil against me.

¹⁶They ^areturn, but not upward;²

they are ^blike a treacherous bow;

their princes shall fall by the sword

because of ^cthe insolence of their tongue.

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

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8Set ^ethe trumpet to your lips!

One ^flike a vulture is over the house of the Lord,

because ^gthey have transgressed my covenant

and rebelled against my law.

²To me they cry,

^h“My God, we—Israel—know you.”

³Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴ⁱThey made kings, ^jbut not through me.

They set up princes, but I knew it not.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.

^5kI have¹ spurned your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

^lHow long will they be incapable of innocence?

⁶For it is from Israel;

a craftsman made it;

it is not God.

^kThe calf of Samaria

^mshall be broken to pieces.²

⁷For ⁿthey sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no flour;

if it were to yield,

^ostrangers would devour it.

^8pIsrael is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

as ^qa useless vessel.

⁹For ^rthey have gone up to Assyria,

^sa wild donkey wandering alone;

Ephraim has hired lovers.

¹⁰Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And ^tthe king and princes ^ushall soon writhe

because of the tribute.

¹¹Because Ephraim ^vhas multiplied altars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning.

^12wWere I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,

they would be regarded as a strange thing.

¹³As for my sacrificial offerings,

^xthey sacrifice meat and eat it,

but the Lord does not accept them.

^yNow he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

^zthey shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴For ^aIsrael has forgotten ^bhis Maker

and ^cbuilt palaces,

and ^aJudah has multiplied fortified cities;

so ^dI will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour her strongholds.