Hosea 7–8

7TH CHAPTER

¹“Whenever I want to heal Israel, 

all I can see is Ephraim’s sin and Samaria’s wickedness. 

People cheat each other. 

They break into houses and steal. 

They rob people in the streets. 

²They don’t realize that I remember 

all the evil things they’ve done. 

Now their sins surround them. 

Their sins are in my presence. 

³“They make kings happy with the wicked things they do. 

They make officials happy with the lies they tell. 

⁴They all commit adultery. 

They are like a heated oven, 

an oven so hot that a baker doesn’t have to fan its flames 

when he makes bread. 

⁵On the day of the king’s celebration, 

the officials become drunk from wine, 

and the king joins mockers. 

⁶They become hot like an oven while they lie in ambush. 

All night long their anger smolders, 

but in the morning it burns like a raging fire. 

⁷They are all as hot as an oven. 

They consume their judges ⸤like a fire⸥. 

All their kings die in battle, and none of them calls to me. 

Israel Turns to Other Nations for Help

⁸“Ephraim mixes with other nations. 

Ephraim, you are like a half-baked loaf of bread. 

⁹Foreigners are using up your strength, but you don’t realize it. 

You have become a gray-haired, old man, but you don’t realize it. 

¹⁰Israel, your arrogance testifies against you, 

but even after all this, you don’t turn to the Lord your God 

or look to him for help. 

¹¹Ephraim, you are like a silly, senseless dove. 

You call for Egypt and run to Assyria for help. 

¹²When you go, I will spread my net over you. 

I will snatch you out of the air like a bird. 

I will punish you for all the evil things you have done. 

¹³“How horrible it will be for these people. 

They have run away from me. 

They must be destroyed because they’ve rebelled against me. 

I want to reclaim them, but they tell lies about me. 

¹⁴They don’t pray to me sincerely, 

even though they cry in their beds 

and make cuts on their bodies 

while praying for grain and new wine. 

They have turned against me. 

¹⁵I trained them and made them strong. 

Yet, they plan evil against me. 

¹⁶They don’t return to the Most High. 

They are like a defective bow. 

Their officials will die in battle 

because they curse. 

The people in Egypt will ridicule them for this. 

8TH CHAPTER

The Lord Will Punish Israel for Its Rebellion

¹“Sound the alarm on the ram’s horn. 

The enemy swoops down on the Lord’s temple like an eagle. 

The people of Israel have rejected my promise 

and rebelled against my teachings. 

²They cry out to me, ‘We acknowledge you as our God.’ 

³However, they have rejected what is good. 

The enemy will persecute them. 

⁴“They chose their own kings, kings I didn’t approve. 

They chose their own princes, princes I didn’t know. 

They chose to make idols with their own silver and gold. 

Because of this, they will be destroyed. 

⁵Get rid of your calf-shaped idol, Samaria. 

My anger burns against these people. 

How long will they remain unclean?^a

⁶Samaria’s calf-shaped idol was made in Israel. 

Skilled workers made it. 

It is not a god. 

It will be smashed to pieces. 

⁷“The people of Israel plant the wind, but they harvest a storm. 

A field of grain that doesn’t ripen will never produce any grain. 

Even if it did produce grain, foreigners would eat it all. 

⁸Israel will be swallowed up. 

It has already mixed in with the other nations. 

It has become worthless. 

⁹“The people of Israel went to Assyria. 

They were like wild donkeys wandering off alone. 

The people of Ephraim sold themselves to their lovers. 

¹⁰Even though they sold themselves among the nations, 

I will gather them now. 

They will suffer for a while under the burdens of kings and princes. 

¹¹“The more altars that the people of Ephraim build 

to make offerings to pay for their sins, 

the more places they have for sinning. 

¹²I have written many things for them in my teachings, 

but they consider these things strange and foreign. 

¹³They offer sacrifices to me and eat the meat of sacrifices, 

but I, the Lord, do not accept these sacrifices. 

Now I will remember their wickedness 

and punish them because of their sins. 

They will go back to Egypt. 

¹⁴The people of Israel have built palaces, 

and they have forgotten their maker. 

The people of Judah have built many fortified cities. 

I will send a fire on their cities and burn down their palaces.”