“They delight the king with their wickedness,
    the princes with their lies.(A)
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.
On the day of the festival of our king
    the princes become inflamed with wine,(C)
    and he joins hands with the mockers.(D)
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.
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.

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Israel’s Corruption

They please the king with their evil,(A)
the princes with their lies.(B)
All of them commit adultery;(C)
they are like an oven heated by a baker
who stops stirring the fire
from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
On the day of our king,
the princes are sick with the heat of wine(D)
there is a conspiracy with traitors.[a]
For they—their hearts like an oven—
draw him into their oven.
Their anger smolders all night;
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are as hot as an oven,(E)
and they consume their rulers.(F)
All their kings fall;
not one of them calls on Me.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 7:5 Lit wine—he stretches out his hand to scorners; Hb obscure
  2. Hosea 7:7 These vv. may refer to a king’s assassination; Hb obscure.