Hosea 7

English Standard Version

7 ^(A)when I would heal Israel,
    the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the evil deeds of ^(B)Samaria,
for ^(C)they deal falsely;
    the thief breaks in,
    and the bandits raid outside.
²But they do not consider
    that ^(D)I remember all their evil.
Now ^(E)their deeds surround them;
    ^(F)they are before my face.
³By their evil ^(G)they make ^(H)the king glad,
    and the princes by their treachery.
⁴^(I)They 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.
⁵On the day of ^(J)our king, the princes
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.
⁶For with hearts like an oven ^(K)they approach their intrigue;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
⁷All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All ^(L)their kings ^(M)have fallen,
    and none of them calls upon me.

⁸Ephraim ^(N)mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
⁹^(O)Strangers devour his strength,
    and ^(P)he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    and ^(Q)he knows it not.
¹⁰^(R)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;^[a]
    ^(S)yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
    nor seek him, for all this.

¹¹Ephraim is like a dove,
    ^(T)silly and without sense,
    calling to ^(U)Egypt, going to ^(V)Assyria.
¹²As they go, ^(W)I will spread over them my net;
    I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
    ^(X)I will discipline them ^(Y)according to the report made to their congregation.
¹³^(Z)Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
^(AA)I would redeem them,
    but ^(AB)they speak lies against me.

¹⁴^(AC)They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but ^(AD)they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
    they rebel against me.
¹⁵Although ^(AE)I trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they devise evil against me.
¹⁶They ^(AF)return, but not upward;^[b]
    they are ^(AG)like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
    because of ^(AH)the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision ^(AI)in the land of Egypt.