Hosea 7

Chapter 7

Ephraim’s Iniquity

¹When I ^awould heal Israel,

The iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,

And the evil deeds of Samaria,

For they deal ^bfalsely;

The thief enters in,

^cBandits raid outside,

²And they do not ¹consider in their hearts

That I ^aremember all their wickedness.

Now their ^bdeeds are all around them;

They are before My face.

^3aWith their wickedness they make the ^bking glad,

And the princes with their ^clies.

⁴They are ^aall adulterers,

Like an oven heated by the baker

Who ceases to stir up the fire

From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

⁵On the ¹day of our king, the princes ^abecame sick with the heat of wine;

He stretched out his hand with ^bscoffers,

⁶For their hearts are like an ^aoven

As they approach their ¹plotting;

Their ²anger ³smolders all night,

In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot like an oven,

And they consume their ^arulers;

All their kings have fallen.

^bNone of them calls on Me.

⁸Ephraim ^amixes himself with the ¹nations;

Ephraim has become a cake not turned.

^9aStrangers devour his strength,

Yet he ^bdoes not know it;

Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,

Yet he does not know it.

¹⁰Though the ^apride of Israel testifies against him,

Yet ^bthey have not returned to the Lord their God,

Nor have they sought Him, for all this.

¹¹So ^aEphraim has become like a silly dove, ^bwithout ¹sense;

They call to ^cEgypt, they go to ^dAssyria.

¹²When they go, I will ^aspread My net over them;

I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.

I will ^bchastise them in accordance with the ¹proclamation to their assembly.

^13aWoe to them, for they have ^bstrayed from Me!

Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!

I ^cwould redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.

¹⁴And ^athey do not cry to Me from their heart

When they wail on their beds;

For the sake of grain and new wine they ^1bassemble themselves,

They ^cturn away from Me.

¹⁵Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

Yet they ^adevise evil against Me.

¹⁶They turn, but not ¹upward,

They are like a ^adeceitful bow;

Their princes will fall by the sword

Because of the ^2binsolence of their tongue.

This will be their ^cderision in the land of Egypt.