Hosea 7:13-16

New International Reader's Version

¹³ How terrible it will be for them!
    They have wandered away from me.
So they will be destroyed.
    That’s because they have refused to obey me.
I long to save them.
    But they tell lies about me.
¹⁴ They do not cry out to me from their hearts.
    Instead, they just lie on their beds and sob.
They cut themselves when they pray to their gods
    for grain and fresh wine.
    But they turn away from me.
¹⁵ I brought them up and made them strong.
    But they make evil plans against me.
¹⁶ I am the Most High God. But they do not turn to me.
    They are like a bow that does not shoot straight.
Their leaders will be killed by swords.
    They will die because they have spoken too proudly.
The people of Egypt
    will make fun of them.”