Hosea 7:1-16
7 “At the time that I would bring healing to Israel,+ the error of Eʹphra·im is also actually uncovered,+ and the bad things of Sa·marʹi·a;+ for they have practiced falsehood,+ and a thief himself comes in; a marauder band actually makes a dash on the outside.+
2 And they do not say to their own heart+ that all their badness I will remember.+ Now their dealings have surrounded them.+ In front of my face they have come to be.+
3 By their badness they make [the] king rejoice, and, by their deceptions, princes.+
4 All of them are adulterers,+ like a furnace set burning by a baker, [who] ceases poking after kneading dough until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, princes have sickened themselves+—there is a rage because of wine.+ He has drawn his hand along with deriders.
6 For they have brought their heart near as to a furnace;+ it is burning inside them.+ All night long their baker is sleeping; by morning [the furnace]* is burning as with a flaming fire.+
7 They get hot, all of them, like the furnace, and they actually devour their judges. Their own kings have all fallen;+ none among them is calling out to me.+
8 “As for Eʹphra·im, it is among the peoples that he personally mingles himself.+ Eʹphra·im himself has become a round cake not turned on the other side.+
9 Strangers have eaten up his power,+ and he himself has not come to know [it].+ Also, gray hairs themselves have become white on him, but he himself has not come to know [it].
10 And the pride of Israel has testified to his face,+ and they have not returned to Jehovah their God,*+ nor have they looked for him because of all this.+
11 And Eʹphra·im proves to be like a simpleminded dove+ without heart.*+ To Egypt they have called;+ to As·syrʹi·a they have gone.+
12 “Whichever way they go, I shall spread out over them my net.+ Like flying creatures of the heavens I shall bring them down.+ I shall discipline them in agreement with the report to their assembly.+
13 Woe to them,+ for they have fled from me!+ Despoiling to them, for they have transgressed against me! And I myself proceeded to redeem them,+ but they themselves have spoken lies even against me.+
14 And they did not call to me for aid with their heart,+ although they kept howling on their beds. On account of their grain and sweet wine they kept loafing about;+ they kept turning against me.+
15 And I, for my part, did disciplining;+ I strengthened their arms,+ but against me they kept scheming what was bad.+
16 And they proceeded to return, not to anything higher;*+ they had become like a loose bow.+ By the sword their princes will fall because of the denunciation of their tongue.+ This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.”+
Footnotes
^ Lit., “it,” masc., referring to “furnace,” masc.
^ “Their God.” Heb., ʼElo·heh·hemʹ.
^ Or, “without good motive.” Heb., ʼehn lev.
^ “Not to anything higher.” Lit., “not upward,” that is, not to an elevated form of worship. Heb., loʼ ʽal.
