Hosea 7 - Contemporary English Version Interconfessional Edition

¹ and to heal its wounds. But then I see the crimes in Israel and Samaria. Everyone is deceitful; robbers roam the streets.

² No one realizes that I have seen their sins surround them like a flood.

³ The king and his officials take great pleasure in their sin and deceit.

⁴ Everyone burns with desire— they are like coals in an oven, ready to burst into flames.

⁵ On the day their king was crowned, his officials got him drunk, and he joined in their foolishness.

⁶ Their anger is a fire that smolders all night, then flares up at dawn.

⁷ They are flames destroying their leaders. And their kings are powerless; none of them trust me.

⁸ The people of Israel have mixed with foreigners; they are a thin piece of bread scorched on one side.

⁹ They don't seem to realize how weak and feeble they are; their hair has turned gray, while foreigners rule.

¹⁰ I am the Lord, their God, but in all of their troubles their pride keeps them from returning to me.

No Help from Foreign Nations The Lord said:

¹¹ Israel is a senseless bird, fluttering back and forth between Egypt and Assyria.

¹² But I will catch them in a net as hunters trap birds; I threatened to punish them, and indeed I will.

¹³ Trouble and destruction will be their reward for rejecting me. I would have rescued them, but they told me lies.

¹⁴ They don't really pray to me; they just howl in their beds. They have rejected me for Baal and slashed themselves, in the hope that Baal will bless their crops.

¹⁵ I taught them what they know, and I made them strong. Now they plot against me

¹⁶ and refuse to obey. They are more useless than a crooked arrow. Their leaders will die in war for saying foolish things. Egyptians will laugh at them.