Hosea 7
New King James Version
Israel Has Rebelled Against God
7 “When I would have healed Israel,
Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,
And the wickedness of Samaria.
For (A)they have committed fraud;
A thief comes in;
A band of robbers [a]takes spoil outside.
2 They [b]do not consider in their hearts
That (B)I remember all their wickedness;
Now their own deeds have surrounded them;
They are before My face.
3 They make a (C)king glad with their wickedness,
And princes (D)with their lies.
4 “They(E) are all adulterers.
Like an oven heated by a baker—
He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,
Until it is leavened.
5 In the day of our king
Princes have made him sick, [c]inflamed with (F)wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
6 They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
[d]Their baker sleeps all night;
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7 They are all hot, like an oven,
And have devoured their judges;
All their kings have fallen.
(G)None among them calls upon Me.
8 “Ephraim (H)has mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
9 (I)Aliens have devoured his strength,
But he does not know it;
Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,
Yet he does not know it.
10 And the (J)pride of Israel testifies to his face,
But (K)they do not return to the Lord their God,
Nor seek Him for all this.
Futile Reliance on the Nations
11 “Ephraim(L) also is like a silly dove, without [e]sense—
(M)They call to Egypt,
They go to (N)Assyria.
12 Wherever they go, I will (O)spread My net on them;
I will bring them down like birds of the air;
I will chastise them
(P)According to what their congregation has heard.
13 “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!
Destruction to them,
Because they have transgressed against Me!
Though (Q)I redeemed them,
Yet they have spoken lies against Me.
14 (R)They did not cry out to Me with their heart
When they wailed upon their beds.
“They [f]assemble together for grain and new (S)wine,
[g]They rebel against Me;
15 Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me;
16 They return, but not [h]to the Most High;
(T)They are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For the (U)cursings of their tongue.
This shall be their derision (V)in the land of Egypt.
Footnotes
- Hosea 7:1 plunders
- Hosea 7:2 Lit. do not say to
- Hosea 7:5 Lit. with the heat of
- Hosea 7:6 So with MT, Vg.; Syr., Tg. Their anger; LXX Ephraim
- Hosea 7:11 Lit. heart
- Hosea 7:14 So with MT, Tg.; Vg. thought upon; LXX slashed themselves for (cf. 1 Kin. 18:28)
- Hosea 7:14 So with MT, Syr., Tg.; LXX omits They rebel against Me; Vg. They departed from Me
- Hosea 7:16 Or upward
Hosea 7
Lexham English Bible
7 when I would heal Israel,
and the corruption of Ephraim is revealed,
and the wicked deeds of Samaria;
because they deal in falsehood,
the thief breaks in,[a]
and the bandit raids the outside.
2 But they did not consider[b]
that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds surround them;
they are before my face.
3 By their wickedness they make the king glad,
and the officials by their treacheries.
4 All of them commit adultery,
like a burning oven
whose baker has stopped from stirring the fire,
and from kneading the dough until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king, the princes
became sick with the heat of wine;[c]
he stretched out his hand with mockers.
6 Because they are kindled[d] like an oven,
their heart burns within them;
all night their anger smolders,[e]
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot as an oven,
and they devour[f] their rulers.
All their kings have fallen;
there is none who calls to me amongst them.
8 Ephraim mixes himself
with the nations;
Ephraim is a bread cake
not turned over.
9 Foreigners devour[g] his strength,
and he does not know it;
mold[h] is also sprinkled upon him,
and he does not know it.
10 The pride of Israel testifies against him[i]—
they do not return to Yahweh their God;
they do not seek him for all of this.[j]
11 Ephraim was like a dove,
silly, without sense;[k]
they call to Egypt,
they go to Assyria.
12 Just as they go, I will cast my net
over them;
I will bring them down
like the birds[l] of the heavens;[m]
I will discipline them
according to a report to their assembly.[n]
13 Woe to them, because they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me!
I myself would redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me from their heart,
but they wail on their beds;
because of grain and new wine they lacerate[o] themselves;
they depart from me.
15 And I myself trained
and strengthened their arms;
but they plan evil against me.
16 They turn, not to the Most High,[p]
like a slack bow;
their officials will fall by the sword
because of the anger of their tongue.
This is their scorn[q]
in the land of Egypt.
Footnotes
- Hosea 7:1 Or “comes in”
- Hosea 7:2 Literally “But they did not say to their heart”
- Hosea 7:5 This phrase refers to the effects of wine on the body
- Hosea 7:6 Hebrew “they drew near;” other ancient translations read “they are kindled”
- Hosea 7:6 Literally “sleeps”
- Hosea 7:7 Or “they eat”
- Hosea 7:9 Or “Foreigners eat”
- Hosea 7:9 Literally “grey hair,” but in this case the word refers to the “hairs of mold” on food
- Hosea 7:10 Literally “answers against his face”
- Hosea 7:10 Or “in all of this”
- Hosea 7:11 Literally “without heart”
- Hosea 7:12 Hebrew “bird”
- Hosea 7:12 Or “sky”
- Hosea 7:12 Hebrew uncertain
- Hosea 7:14 Or “gash”
- Hosea 7:16 Hebrew uncertain; the NRSV translates “to that which does not profit”; the NASB translates “but not upward”
- Hosea 7:16 The NRSV translates “So much for their babbling”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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