Hosea 7:3-12

New International Version

³ “They delight the king with their wickedness,
    the princes with their lies.^(A)
4 They are all adulterers,^(B)
    burning like an oven
whose fire the baker need not stir
    from the kneading of the dough till it rises.
⁵ On the day of the festival of our king
    the princes become inflamed with wine,^(C)
    and he joins hands with the mockers.^(D)
6 Their hearts are like an oven;^(E)
    they approach him with intrigue.
Their passion smolders all night;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
⁷ All of them are hot as an oven;
    they devour their rulers.
All their kings fall,^(F)
    and none of them calls^(G) on me.

⁸ “Ephraim mixes^(H) with the nations;
    Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.
⁹ Foreigners sap his strength,^(I)
    but he does not realize it.
His hair is sprinkled with gray,
    but he does not notice.
¹⁰ Israel’s arrogance testifies against him,^(J)
    but despite all this
he does not return^(K) to the Lord his God
    or search^(L) for him.

¹¹ “Ephraim is like a dove,^(M)
    easily deceived and senseless—
now calling to Egypt,^(N)
    now turning to Assyria.^(O)
12 When they go, I will throw my net^(P) over them;
    I will pull them down like the birds in the sky.
When I hear them flocking together,
    I will catch them.