Hosea 7

1 “When I heal Israel, Ephraim’s wrongdoing will be uncovered, along with Samaria’s evil, because they acted falsely. A thief comes in, and a robber strips people on the road,

2 so that they may sing together in their hearts. I remembered all their evil. Now their own plans surround them; they stand before my face.

3 With their evil they delighted kings, and with their lies, rulers.

4 They are all adulterers, like an oven burning hot for baking, from the flame and the mixing of the fat until it is leavened.

5 In the days of your kings, the rulers began to burn with wine; the king stretched out his hand with pestilent men.

6 Their hearts burned like an oven while they raged. All night Ephraim was filled with sleep; by morning he burned like a bright flame.

7 They all grew hot like an oven and devoured their judges. All their kings fell, and not one of them called on me.

8 Ephraim mixed himself among his own peoples; Ephraim became a flatbread left unturned.

9 Foreigners devoured his strength, and he did not recognize it. Gray hairs appeared on him, and he did not know it.

10 Israel’s pride will be brought low before him, yet they have not returned to the Lord their God or sought him through all of this.

11 Ephraim became like a foolish dove with no heart. He called to Egypt, and they went to the Assyrians.

12 Whenever they go, I will throw my net over them. I will bring them down like birds of the sky and correct them when they hear of their distress.

13 How terrible for them, because they sprang away from me! They are wretched, because they acted ungodly toward me. I ransomed them, but they spoke lies against me.

14 Their hearts did not cry to me; they wailed on their beds. They cut themselves for grain and wine, yet they were instructed by me.

15 I strengthened their arms, but they planned evil against me.

16 They turned toward what is nothing and became like a bow stretched tight. Their rulers will fall by the sword because of their undisciplined tongues. This will bring them contempt in the land of Egypt.”