Hosea 7–8

¹‘When I give healing to Israel, Then revealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, And the wickedness of Samaria, For they have wrought falsehood, And a thief doth come in, Stript off hath a troop in the street, ²And they do not say to their heart, That all their evil I have remembered, Now compassed them have their doings, Over-against My face they have been. ³With their wickedness they make glad a king, And with their lies—princes. ⁴All of them are adulterers, Like a burning oven of a baker, He ceaseth from stirring up after kneading the dough, till its leavening. ⁵A day of our king! Princes have polluted themselves with the poison of wine, He hath drawn out his hand with scorners. ⁶For they have drawn near, As an oven is their heart, In their lying in wait all the night sleep doth their baker, Morning! he is burning as a flaming fire. ⁷All of them are warm as an oven, And they have devoured their judges, All their kings have fallen, There is none calling unto Me among them.

⁸Ephraim! among peoples he mixeth himself, Ephraim hath been a cake unturned. ⁹Devoured have strangers his power, And he hath not known, Also old age hath sprinkled itself on him, And he hath not known. ¹⁰And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And they have not turned back unto Jehovah their God, Nor have they sought Him for all this. ¹¹And Ephraim is as a simple dove without heart, Egypt they called on—to Asshur they have gone. ¹²When they go I spread over them My net, As the fowl of the heavens I bring them down, I chastise them as their company hath heard. ¹³Woe to them, for they wandered from Me, Destruction to them, for they transgressed against Me, And I—I ransom them, and they have spoken lies against Me, ¹⁴And have not cried unto Me with their heart, but howl on their beds, For corn and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn aside against Me. ¹⁵And I instructed—I strengthened their arms, And concerning Me they think evil! ¹⁶They turn back—not to the Most High, They have been as a deceitful bow, Fall by sword do their princes, From the insolence of their tongue, This is their derision in the land of Egypt!

Chapter 8

¹‘Unto thy mouth—a trumpet, As an eagle against the house of Jehovah, Because they transgressed My covenant, And against My law they have rebelled. ²To Me they cry, ‘My God, we—Israel—have known Thee.’ ³Cast off good hath Israel, an enemy pursueth him. ⁴They have made kings, and not by Me, They have made princes, and I have not known, Their silver and their gold they have made to them idols, So that they are cut off. ⁵Cast off hath thy calf, O Samaria, Burned hath Mine anger against them, Till when are they not capable of purity? ⁶For even it is of Israel; an artificer made it, And it is not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments! ⁷For wind they sow, and a hurricane they reap, Stalk it hath none—a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield—strangers do swallow it up.

⁸Israel hath been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight. ⁹For they—they have gone up to Asshur, A wild ass alone by himself is Ephraim, They have hired lovers! ¹⁰Also though they hire among nations, Now I gather them, and they are pained a little, From the burden of a king of princes. ¹¹Because Ephraim did multiply altars to sin, They have been to him altars to sin. ¹²I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned. ¹³The sacrifices of Mine offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, Jehovah hath not accepted them, Now doth He remember their iniquity, And inspect their sin, They—to Egypt they turn back. ¹⁴And forget doth Israel his Maker, and buildeth temples, And Judah hath multiplied cities of defence, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it hath consumed their palaces!

Chapter 9