Hosea 7
New English Translation
7 whenever I want to heal Israel,
the sin of Ephraim is revealed,
and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed.
For they do what is wrong;
thieves break into houses,
and gangs rob people out in the streets.
2 They do not realize[a]
that I remember all their wicked deeds.
Their evil deeds have now surrounded them;
their sinful deeds are always before me.[b]
Political Intrigue and Conspiracy in the Palace
3 The royal advisers delight the king with their evil schemes,
the princes make him glad with their lies.
4 They are all like bakers,[c]
they[d] are like a smoldering oven;
they are like a baker who does not stoke the fire
until the kneaded dough is ready for baking.
5 At the celebration[e] of their king,[f]
his princes become inflamed[g] with wine;
they conspire[h] with evildoers.
6 They approach him, all the while plotting against him.
Their hearts are like an oven;
their anger smolders all night long,
but in the morning it bursts into a flaming fire.
7 All of them are blazing like an oven;
they devour their rulers.
All their kings fall,
and none of them call on me!
Israel Lacks Discernment and Refuses to Repent
8 Ephraim has mixed itself like flour[i] among the nations;
Ephraim is like a ruined cake of bread that is scorched on one side.[j]
9 Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced,[k]
but he does not recognize it.
His head is filled with gray hair,
but he does not realize it.
10 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him,
yet they refuse to return to the Lord their God.
In spite of all this they refuse to seek him.
Israel Turns to Assyria and Egypt for Help
11 Ephraim has been like a dove,
easily deceived and lacking discernment.
They called to Egypt for help;
they turned to Assyria for protection.
12 I will throw my bird net over them while they are flying;
I will bring them down like birds in the sky;
I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together.
Israel Has Turned Away from the Lord
13 Woe to them! For they have fled from me!
Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me!
I want to deliver[l] them,
but they have lied to me.
14 They do not pray to me,[m]
but howl in distress on their beds;
they slash themselves[n] for grain and new wine,
but turn away from me.
15 Although I trained and strengthened them,[o]
they plot evil against me!
16 They turn to Baal;[p]
they are like an unreliable bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because their prayers to Baal[q] have made me angry.
So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt.[r]
Footnotes
- Hosea 7:2 tn Heb “and they do not say in their heart”; cf. TEV “It never enters their heads.”
- Hosea 7:2 tn Heb “they [the sinful deeds] are before my face” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); cf. NCV “they are right in front of me.”
- Hosea 7:4 tc The MT reads מְנָאֲפִים (menaʾafim, “adulterers”; Piel participle masculine plural from נָאַף, naʾaf, “to commit adultery”), which does not seem to fit the context. The original reading was probably אוֹפִים (ʾofim, “bakers”; Qal participle masculine plural from אָפַה, ʾafah, “to bake”), which harmonizes well with the baker/oven/fire motif in 7:4-7. The textual deviation was caused by: (1) confusion of נ (nun) and ו (vav), (2) metathesis of נ/ו (nun/vav) and א (alef), and (3) dittography of מ (mem) from the preceding word. Original כֻּלָּם אוֹפִים (kullam ʾofim, “all of them are bakers”) was confused for כֻּלָּם מְנָאֲפִים (“all of them are adulterers”). In spite of this most English versions follow the reading of the MT here.
- Hosea 7:4 tc The MT preserves the enigmatic כְּמוֹ תַנּוּר בֹּעֵרָה מֵ (kemo tannur boʿerah me, “Like a burning oven, from…?”). The adjectival participle בֹּעֵרָה (“burning”) is feminine while the noun תַנּוּר (tannur, “oven”) that it modifies is masculine. The BHS editors solve this problem by simply redividing the words: כְּמוֹ תַנּוּר בֹּעֵר הֵם (kemo tannur boʿer hem, “they are like a burning oven”). This solution is followed by many English versions (e.g., NCV, NRSV, NLT).
- Hosea 7:5 tn Heb “the day of” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); cf. NIV “On the day of the festival of our king,” NLT “On royal holidays.”
- Hosea 7:5 tc The MT preserves the awkward first person common plural suffix reading מַלְכֵּנוּ (malakenu, “our king”). The BHS editors suggest reading the third person masculine plural suffix מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”; so CEV), as reflected in the Aramaic Targum.
- Hosea 7:5 tc The MT vocalizes the consonants החלו as הֶחֱלוּ a Hiphil perfect third person common plural from I חָלָה (“to become sick”). However, this is syntactically awkward. The BHS editors suggest revocalizing it as Hiphil infinitive construct + third person masculine singular suffix from חָלַל (khalal, “to begin”) or Hiphil perfect third person common plural from חָלַל. For a discussion of this textual problem, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:240.tn Heb “when their king began [to reign].”
- Hosea 7:5 tn Heb “he joined hands”; cf. NCV “make agreements.”
- Hosea 7:8 tn The words “like flour” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied by the imagery.
- Hosea 7:8 tn Heb “a cake of bread not turned.” This metaphor compares Ephraim to a ruined cake of bread that was not turned over in time to avoid being scorched and burned (see BDB 728 s.v. עֻגָה). Cf. NLT “as worthless as a half-baked cake.”
- Hosea 7:9 tn Heb “foreigners consume his strength”; cf. NRSV “devour (NIV “sap”) his strength.”
- Hosea 7:13 tn Heb “redeem” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. NCV, TEV “save,” CEV “I would have rescued them.”
- Hosea 7:14 tn Heb “they do not cry out to me in their heart”; cf. NLT “with sincere hearts.”
- Hosea 7:14 tc The MT reads יִתְגּוֹרָרוּ (yitgoraru), which is either (1) Hitpolel imperfect third person masculine plural (“they assemble themselves”; so KJV, NASB) from I גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn”; BDB 157 s.v. I גּוּר) or (2) Hitpolel imperfect third person masculine plural (“they excite themselves”) from II גּוּר (gur, “to stir up”; BDB 158 s.v. II גּוּר). However, the Hebrew lexicographers suggest that both of these options are unlikely. Several other Hebrew mss preserve an alternate textual tradition of יִתְגּוֹדָדוּ (yitgodadu), which is a Hitpolel imperfect third person common plural (“they slash themselves”) from גָּדַד (gadad, “to cut”; BDB 151 s.v. גָּדַד), as also reflected in the LXX (cf. NAB “they lacerated themselves”; NRSV, TEV “gash themselves”; NLT “cut themselves”). This reflects the pagan Canaanite cultic practice of priests cutting themselves and draining their blood on the ground to elicit agricultural fertility by resurrecting the slain fertility god Baal from the underworld (Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5). Cf. CEV, which adds, “in the hope that Baal will bless their crops.”
- Hosea 7:15 tn Heb “their arms” (so NAB, NRSV).
- Hosea 7:16 tc The MT reads the enigmatic יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל (yashuvu loʾ ʿal), which is taken variously: “they turn, but not upward” (NASB); “they do not turn to the Most High” (NIV); and “they return, but not to the most High” (KJV). The BHS editors suggest יָשׁוּבוּ לַבַּעַל (yashuvu labbaʿal, “they turn to Baal”; so RSV) or יָשׁוּבוּ לַבְּלִיַּעַל (yashuvu labbeliyyaʿal, “they turn to Belial”), which is reflected by the LXX.
- Hosea 7:16 tn Heb “because their tongue.” The term “tongue” is used figuratively as a metonymy of cause (tongue) for effect (prayers to Baal).
- Hosea 7:16 tn Heb “this [will] be for scorn in the land of Egypt”; cf. NIV “they will be ridiculed (NAB “shall be mocked”) in the land of Egypt.”
Hosea 7
World English Bible
7 When I would heal Israel,
then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,
also the wickedness of Samaria;
for they commit falsehood,
and the thief enters in,
and the gang of robbers ravages outside.
2 They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their own deeds have engulfed them.
They are before my face.
3 They make the king glad with their wickedness,
and the princes with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers.
They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring,
from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine.
He joined his hand with mockers.
6 For they have prepared their heart like an oven,
while they lie in wait.
Their baker sleeps all the night.
In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.
7 They are all hot as an oven,
and devour their judges.
All their kings have fallen.
There is no one among them who calls to me.
8 Ephraim, he mixes himself among the nations.
Ephraim is a pancake not turned over.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength,
and he doesn’t realize it.
Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him,
and he doesn’t realize it.
10 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
yet they haven’t returned to Yahweh their God,
nor sought him, for all this.
11 “Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without understanding.
They call to Egypt.
They go to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will spread my net on them.
I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.
I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard.
13 Woe to them!
For they have wandered from me.
Destruction to them!
For they have trespassed against me.
Though I would redeem them,
yet they have spoken lies against me.
14 They haven’t cried to me with their heart,
but they howl on their beds.
They assemble themselves for grain and new wine.
They turn away from me.
15 Though I have taught and strengthened their arms,
yet they plot evil against me.
16 They return, but not to the Most High.
They are like a faulty bow.
Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue.
This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
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