Hosea 7

Chapter 7

Israel’s Love for Wickedness

1 “I want to heal Israel,t but its sins are too great.
Samaria is filled with liars.
Thieves are on the inside
and bandits on the outside!2 Its people don’t realize
that I am watching them.
Their sinful deeds are all around them,
and I see them all.3 “The people entertain the king with their wickedness,
and the princes laugh at their lies.4 They are all adulterers,
always aflame with lust.
They are like an oven that is kept hot
while the baker is kneading the dough.5 On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine,
carousing with those who mock them.6 Their hearts are like an oven
blazing with intrigue.
Their plot smolderst through the night,
and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.7 Burning like an oven,
they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
and no one cries to me for help.8 “The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners,
making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!9 Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength,
but they don’t even know it.
Their hair is gray,
but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.10 Their arrogance testifies against them,
yet they don’t return to the LORD their God
or even try to find him.11 “The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves,
first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.12 But as they fly about,
I will throw my net over them
and bring them down like a bird from the sky.
I will punish them for all the evil they do.t13 “What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
but they have told lies about me.14 They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
They cut themselves,t begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
and they turn away from me.15 I trained them and made them strong,
yet now they plot evil against me.16 They look everywhere except to the Most High.
They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
will laugh at them.

HOSEA 7

1 and to heal its wounds.
But then I see the crimes
in Israelt and Samaria.
Everyone is deceitful;
robbers roam the streets.

2 No one realizes
that I have seen their sins
surround them like a flood.

3 The king and his officials
take great pleasure
in their sin and deceit.

4 Everyone burns with desire—
they are like coals in an oven,
ready to burst into flames.

5 On the day their king
was crowned,
his officials got him drunk,
and he joined
in their foolishness.t

6 Their anger is a fire
that smolders all night,
then flares up at dawn.

7 They are flames
destroying their leaders.
And their kings are powerless;
none of them trust me.

8 The people of Israelt
have mixed with foreigners;
they are a thin piece of bread
scorched on one side.

9 They don't seem to realize
how weak and feeble they are;
their hair has turned gray,
while foreigners rule.

10 I am the [Lord], their God,
but in all of their troubles
their pride keeps them
from returning to me.

No Help from Foreign Nations

The [Lord] said:

11 Israelt is a senseless bird,
fluttering back and forth
between Egypt and Assyria.

12 But I will catch them in a net
as hunters trap birds;
I threatened to punish them,
and indeed I will.t

13 Trouble and destruction
will be their reward
for rejecting me.
I would have rescued them,
but they told me lies.

14 They don't really pray to me;
they just howl in their beds.
They have rejected me for Baal
and slashed themselves, t
in the hope that Baal
will bless their crops.

15 I taught them what they know,
and I made them strong.
Now they plot against me

16 and refuse to obey.t
They are more useless
than a crooked arrow.
Their leaders will die in war
for saying foolish things.
Egyptians will laugh at them.