Hosea 7
International Standard Version
God Accuses Israel
7 “When I was healing Israel,
Ephraim’s sin was uncovered,
along with Samaria’s wickedness.
While they craft lying schemes,
the thief invades,
and the gang of thieves plunders outside.
2 It never occurs to them that I remember all their sin.
Now their actions have caught up with them,
and they have my attention.[a]
3 They please the king with their evil,
and the princes with their dishonesty.
4 All of them are adulterers—
they burn like an oven prepared by the baker,
who has ceased stoking it
until the dough is leavened.
5 “On the king’s festival day
the princes got drunk from wine,
so the king[b] joined the mockers.
6 For they have stirred up themselves[c] like an oven
as they lie in ambush.
Their baker sleeps through the night;
in the morning, the oven[d] will be blazing like a fire.
7 They all burn like an oven;
they have consumed their judges;
all their kings have fallen—
not even one of them calls on me.
8 “Ephraim compromises with[e] the nations;
he’s a half-baked cake.[f]
9 Foreigners have consumed his strength,
and he hasn’t noticed.
Furthermore, his head is sprinkled with gray hair,
but he doesn’t realize it.
10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against him;[g]
but they do not return to the Lord their God,
nor seek him in all of this.
11 “Ephraim is also like a silly dove,
lacking sense:[h]
They call out to Egypt,
and turn toward Assyria.
12 When they go,
I’ll cast my net over them.
I’ll bring them down, as one shoots[i] birds in the sky.
I’ll chasten them,
as the assembly has already heard.
13 Woe to them—
because they have run away from me.
Ruin to them—
because they have sinned against me.
Even though I redeemed them,
they spread lies against me.
14 They will not cry to me from their heart—
instead, they wail on their beds.
They gather together to eat and drink,[j]
turning away from me.
15 “Though I have taught them
and strengthened their arms,
nevertheless they plot evil against me.
16 They return—but not to the Most High.
They are like a defective weapon.[k]
Their princes will fall by the sword
because of their raging tongue,
and they will be a laughingstock in the land of Egypt.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 7:2 Lit. they are before my face
- Hosea 7:5 Lit. so he
- Hosea 7:6 Lit. up their heart
- Hosea 7:6 Lit. morning, it
- Hosea 7:8 Or dilutes himself among
- Hosea 7:8 Lit. a cake not turned
- Hosea 7:10 Lit. testifies in his face
- Hosea 7:11 Lit. heart
- Hosea 7:12 The Heb. lacks one shoots
- Hosea 7:14 Lit. together for grain and fresh wine
- Hosea 7:16 Lit. bow
Hosea 7
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
7 When I would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have committed falsehood, and the thief is come in to steal, the robber is without.
2 And lest they may say in their hearts, that I remember all their wickedness: their own devices now have beset them about, they have been done before my face.
3 They have made the king glad with their wickedness: and the princes with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker: the city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole was leavened.
5 The day of our king, the princes began to be mad with wine: he stretched out his hand with scorners.
6 Because they have applied their heart like an oven, when he laid snares for them: he slept all the night baking them, in the morning he himself was heated as a flaming fire.
7 They were all heated like an oven, and have devoured their judges: all their kings have fallen: there is none amongst them that calleth unto me.
8 Ephraim himself is mixed among the nations: Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea, grey hairs also are spread about upon him, and he is ignorant of it.
10 And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these.
11 And Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a heart: they called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians.
12 And when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowl of the air, I will strike them as their congregation hath heard.
13 Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they shall be wasted because they have transgressed against me: and I redeemed them: and they have spoken lies against me.
14 And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howled in their beds: they have thought upon wheat and wine, they are departed from me.
15 And I have chastised them, and strengthened their arms: and they have imagined evil against me.
16 They returned, that they might be without yoke: they became like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, for the rage of their tongue. This is their derision in the land of Egypt.
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