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Israel’s Corruption

Whenever I want to heal Israel,
the guilt of Ephraim is uncovered,
    and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed,
    because they deal dishonestly.
    Thieves come inside,
    and bandits raid outside.
In their hearts Ephraim does not realize that I remember all their wickedness.
    Now their deeds are all around them.
    They are in front of my face.
The people of Ephraim make the king glad with their wickedness.
    They make their officials happy with their lies.
They are all adulterers,
    burning like an oven.
    The baker does not need to stoke the fire
    from the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.
On the day[a] of our[b] king, the officials became sick from the intoxicating wine.
    He reaches out his hand to the blasphemers.
Indeed, their hearts are like an oven.
    They approach him, while plotting against him.
    Their anger sleeps all night,
    but in the morning it burns like a blazing fire.
They are all hot as an oven.
    They devour their rulers.
    All their kings have fallen.
    Not one of them calls on me.
Ephraim mixes itself with the nations.
    Ephraim is a flatbread not turned over.
Strangers have devoured his strength,
    but he does not realize it.
    There are gray hairs on his head,
    but he does not realize it.
10 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him,
    yet they have not returned to the Lord their God,
    and they have not sought him, despite all this.

Israel’s Instability

11 Ephraim is like a gullible dove, without sense.
    They call to Egypt.
    Then they appeal to Assyria.
12 When they go out, I will spread my net over them.
    I will bring them down like birds from the sky.
    I will discipline them, on the basis of the report about their assembly.[c]
13 Woe to them,
    because they have strayed from me!
    Destruction comes upon them,
    because they have rebelled against me!
    I want to redeem them,
    but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me with their hearts,
    but they howl on their beds.
    They gather together[d] for grain and new wine.
    They turn away from me.
15 Though I trained and strengthened their arms,
    they plot evil against me.
16 They return, but not upward.[e]
    They are like an unreliable bow.
    Their officials will fall by the sword because of their angry tongues.
    Because of this, they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 7:5 The birthday or the coronation day
  2. Hosea 7:5 The Targum reads their.
  3. Hosea 7:12 Or I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together. The meaning of the line is uncertain.
  4. Hosea 7:14 Or they cut themselves, a reference to heathen religious practices
  5. Hosea 7:16 Or not for the better. The translation above is literal. Many translations suggest the emendations return to the Most High or turn to Baal.