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Iniquity of Senseless Ephraim

“When I would have healed Israel,
the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,
    even the wickedness of Samaria,
    for they practice fraud.
So a thief breaks in;
    a marauding band will raid outside.
But they never admit in their heart
that I remember all their evil.
Now their deeds are all around them.
They are right before My face.
They gladden the king with their evil
and the princes with their lies.
All of them are practicing adultery,
as an oven heated by a baker who stops stirring
    or kneading dough when it is leavened.
On the day of our king,
princes become sick from wine.
His hand drags scorners along.
For their hearts are like an oven,
as they wait in ambush.
All night their anger smolders.
In the morning it burns like a blazing fire.
All of them are hot like an oven,
and they devour their rulers.
All of their kings have fallen.
None among them calls on Me.
Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples.
Ephraim has become a pancake
    that never gets turned over.
Strangers devoured his strength—
    yet he does not know it.
Gray hairs have spread on him—
    and he does not know it.
10 Though the Pride of Israel
has answered him to his face,
yet they did not return
    to Adonai their God,
nor seek Him about all this.
11 Ephraim is like a senseless silly dove,
they call to Egypt; they go to Assyria.
12 As they are going,
I will spread out My net over them,
I will bring them down like a bird from the sky.
I will chasten them as in the report
    that comes to their assembly.
13 Oy to them!
    For they strayed from Me.
Devastation to them!
    For they rebelled against Me.
Should I redeem them
    after they spoke lies about Me?
14 Nor did they not cry to Me in their heart
when they were wailing on their beds.
For the sake of grain and new wine
    they slash themselves—
    they keep turning away from Me.
15 I trained and strengthened their arms,
yet they kept planning evil against Me.
16 They will turn back—only not upwards.
They are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes will fall by the sword
    because of the insolence with their tongues.
This will be for their ridicule in the land of Egypt.

whenever I would heal Israel,
the sins of Ephraim are exposed
    and the crimes of Samaria revealed.(A)
They practice deceit,(B)
    thieves break into houses,(C)
    bandits rob in the streets;(D)
but they do not realize
    that I remember(E) all their evil deeds.(F)
Their sins engulf them;(G)
    they are always before me.

“They delight the king with their wickedness,
    the princes with their lies.(H)
They are all adulterers,(I)
    burning like an oven
whose fire the baker need not stir
    from the kneading of the dough till it rises.
On the day of the festival of our king
    the princes become inflamed with wine,(J)
    and he joins hands with the mockers.(K)
Their hearts are like an oven;(L)
    they approach him with intrigue.
Their passion smolders all night;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven;
    they devour their rulers.
All their kings fall,(M)
    and none of them calls(N) on me.

“Ephraim mixes(O) with the nations;
    Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.
Foreigners sap his strength,(P)
    but he does not realize it.
His hair is sprinkled with gray,
    but he does not notice.
10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against him,(Q)
    but despite all this
he does not return(R) to the Lord his God
    or search(S) for him.

11 “Ephraim is like a dove,(T)
    easily deceived and senseless—
now calling to Egypt,(U)
    now turning to Assyria.(V)
12 When they go, I will throw my net(W) over them;
    I will pull them down like the birds in the sky.
When I hear them flocking together,
    I will catch them.
13 Woe(X) to them,
    because they have strayed(Y) from me!
Destruction to them,
    because they have rebelled against me!
I long to redeem them
    but they speak about me(Z) falsely.(AA)
14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts(AB)
    but wail on their beds.
They slash themselves,[a] appealing to their gods
    for grain and new wine,(AC)
    but they turn away from me.(AD)
15 I trained(AE) them and strengthened their arms,
    but they plot evil(AF) against me.
16 They do not turn to the Most High;(AG)
    they are like a faulty bow.(AH)
Their leaders will fall by the sword
    because of their insolent(AI) words.
For this they will be ridiculed(AJ)
    in the land of Egypt.(AK)

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 7:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts They gather together