Hosea 7

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