Hosea 7–8

Despite All the Signs, Israel Ignores God

^1–27“Every time I gave Israel a fresh start,

wiped the slate clean and got them going again,

Ephraim soon filled the slate with new sins,

the treachery of Samaria written out in bold print.

Two-faced and double-tongued,

they steal you blind, pick you clean.

It never crosses their mind

that I keep account of their every crime.

They’re mud-spattered head to toe with the residue of sin.

I see who they are and what they’ve done.

^3–7“They entertain the king with their evil circus,

delight the princes with their acrobatic lies.

They’re a bunch of overheated adulterers,

like an oven that holds its heat

From the kneading of the dough

to the rising of the bread.

On the royal holiday the princes get drunk

on wine and the frenzy of the mocking mob.

They’re like wood stoves,

red-hot with lust.

Through the night their passion is banked;

in the morning it blazes up, flames hungrily licking.

Murderous and volcanic,

they incinerate their rulers.

Their kings fall one by one,

and no one pays any attention to me.

^8–10“Ephraim mingles with the pagans, dissipating himself.

Ephraim is half-baked.

Strangers suck him dry

but he doesn’t even notice.

His hair has turned gray—

he doesn’t notice.

Bloated by arrogance, big as a house,

Israel’s a public disgrace.

Israel lumbers along oblivious to God,

despite all the signs, ignoring God.

^11–16“Ephraim is bird-brained,

mindless, clueless,

First chirping after Egypt,

then fluttering after Assyria.

I’ll throw my net over them. I’ll clip their wings.

I’ll teach them to mind me!

Doom! They’ve run away from home.

Now they’re really in trouble! They’ve defied me.

And I’m supposed to help them

while they feed me a line of lies?

Instead of crying out to me in heartfelt prayer,

they whoop it up in bed with their whores,

Gash themselves bloody in their sex-and-religion orgies,

but turn their backs on me.

I’m the one who gave them good minds and healthy bodies,

and how am I repaid? With evil scheming!

They turn, but not to me—

turn here, then there, like a weather vane.

Their rulers will be cut down, murdered—

just desserts for their mocking blasphemies.

And the final sentence?

Ridicule in the court of world opinion.”

Altars for Sinning

^1–38“Blow the trumpet! Sound the alarm!

Vultures are circling over God’s people

Who have broken my covenant

and defied my revelation.

Predictably, Israel cries out, ‘My God! We know you!’

But they don’t act like it.

Israel will have nothing to do with what’s good,

and now the enemy is after them.

^4–10“They crown kings, but without asking me.

They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.

Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,

idols that will be their ruin.

Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!

I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!

How long before they shape up?

And they’re Israelites!

A sculptor made that thing—

it’s not God.

That Samaritan calf

will be broken to bits.

Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,

they’ll harvest tornadoes.

Wheat with no head

produces no flour.

And even if it did,

strangers would gulp it down.

Israel is swallowed up and spit out.

Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.

They trotted off to Assyria:

Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,

but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.

Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,

I’m going to gather them together and confront them.

They’re going to reap the consequences soon,

feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.

^11–14“Ephraim has built a lot of altars,

and then uses them for sinning.

Can you believe it? Altars for sinning!

I write out my revelation for them in detail

and they pretend they can’t read it.

They offer sacrifices to me

and then they feast on the meat.

God is not pleased!

I’m fed up—I’ll keep remembering their guilt.

I’ll punish their sins

and send them back to Egypt.

Israel has forgotten his Maker

and gotten busy making palaces.

Judah has gone in for a lot of fortress cities.

I’m sending fire on their cities

to burn down their fortifications.”