Hosea 7–8

⁷when I would heal Israel,

the corruption of Ephraim is revealed,

and the wicked deeds of Samaria,

for they deal falsely;

the thief breaks in,

and the bandits raid outside.^*

²But they do not consider

that I remember all their wickedness.

Now their deeds surround them;

they are before my face.^*

³By their wickedness they make the king glad,

and the officials by their treachery.

⁴They are all adulterers;

they are like a heated oven

whose baker does not need to stir the fire

from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.^*

⁵On the day of our king the officials

became sick with the heat of wine;

he stretched out his hand with mockers.^*

⁶For they are kindled^f like an oven; their heart burns within them;

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 their kings have fallen;

none of them calls upon me.^*

⁸Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake not turned.

⁹Foreigners devour his strength,

but he does not know it;

gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,

but he does not know it.^*

¹⁰Israel’s pride testifies against^g him;

yet they do not return to the Lord their God

or seek him, for all this.^*

Futile Reliance on the Nations

¹¹Ephraim has become like a dove,

silly and without sense;

they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria.^*

¹²As they go, I will cast my net over them;

I will bring them down like birds of the air;

I will discipline them according to the report made to their assembly.^h*

¹³Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!

I would redeem them,

but they speak lies against me.^*

¹⁴They do not cry to me from the heart,

but they wail upon their beds;

they gash themselves for grain and wine;

they rebel against me.^*

¹⁵It was I who trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they plot evil against me.^*

¹⁶They turn to that which does not profit;ⁱ

they have become like a defective bow;

their officials shall fall by the sword

because of the rage of their tongue.

So much for their babbling in the land of Egypt.^*

Israel’s Apostasy

⁸Set the trumpet to your lips!

One like a vulture^j is over the house of the Lord,

because they have broken my covenant

and transgressed my law.^*

²They cry to me,

“My God, we know you!”^k*

³Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴They made kings but not through me;

they set up princes but without my knowledge.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.^*

⁵Your calf is rejected, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence?^*

⁶For it is from Israel,

an artisan made it;

it is not God.

The calf of Samaria

shall be broken to pieces.^*

⁷For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no meal;

if it were to yield,

foreigners would devour it.^*

⁸Israel is swallowed up;

now they are among the nations

as a useless vessel.^*

⁹For they have gone up to Assyria,

a wild ass wandering alone;

Ephraim has bargained for lovers.^*

¹⁰Though they bargain with the nations,

I will now gather them up.

They shall soon writhe

under the burden of kings and princes.^*

¹¹When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sin,

they became to him altars for sinning.

¹²Though I write for him the multitude of my instructions,

they are regarded as a strange thing.^*

¹³Though they offer choice sacrifices,^l

though they eat flesh,

the Lord does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

they shall return to Egypt.^*

¹⁴Israel has forgotten his Maker

and built palaces,

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities,

but I will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour his strongholds.^*