Hosea 7

1 *[ch. 6:4] when I would heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of *[Jer. 23:13] Samaria,

for *[ch. 4:2]they deal falsely;

the thief breaks in,

and the bandits raid outside.

2 But they do not consider

that *[ch. 5:3] I remember all their evil.

Now *Ps. 9:16;Prov. 5:22their deeds surround them;

*Ps. 90:8they are before my face.

3 By their evil *ver. 5;[Rom. 1:32]they make *ver. 5;[Rom. 1:32]the king glad,

and the princes by their treachery.

4 *See ch. 6:10They are all adulterers;

they are like a heated oven

whose baker ceases to stir the fire,

from the kneading of the dough

until it is leavened.

5 On the day of *ver. 3our king, the princes

became sick with the heat of wine;

he stretched out his hand with mockers.

6 For with hearts like an oven *ch. 6:9they approach their intrigue;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

7 All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All *ch. 8:4their kings *2 Kgs. 15:10,14,25,30have fallen,

and none of them calls upon me.

8 Ephraim *Ps. 106:35mixes himself with the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake not turned.

9 *[ch. 8:7] Strangers devour his strength,

and *Isa. 42:25he knows it not;

gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,

and *Isa. 42:25he knows it not.

10 *ch. 5:5The pride of Israel testifies to his face;*7:10 Or in his presence

*Isa. 9:13yet they do not return to the Lord their God,

nor seek him, for all this.

11 Ephraim is like a dove,

*ch. 4:11silly and without sense,

calling to *[ch. 12:1;2 Kgs. 17:4] Egypt, going to *See ch. 5:13Assyria.

12 As they go, *See Ezek. 12:13I will spread over them my net;

I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;

*ch. 10:10I will discipline them *See Lev. 26:14-39;Deut. 28:15-68according to the report made to their congregation.

13 *ch. 9:12Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!

*ch. 13:14I would redeem them,

but *[ch. 11:12;12:1;Mic. 6:12]they speak lies against me.

14 *Ps. 78:36,37They do not cry to me from the heart,

but *[Amos 6:4,5]they wail upon their beds;

for grain and wine they gash themselves;

they rebel against me.

15 Although *[ch. 11:3]I trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they devise evil against me.

16 They *[ch. 6:1] return, but not upward;*7:16 Or to the Most High

they are *Ps. 78:57like a treacherous bow;

their princes shall fall by the sword

because of *Ps. 73:9the insolence of their tongue.

This shall be their derision *ch. 9:3in the land of Egypt.