Hosea 7:1-7 ▼

1 |Whenever I want to heal Israel, all I can see is Ephraim's sin and Samaria's wickedness. People cheat each other. They break into houses and steal. They rob people in the streets.

2 They don't realize that I remember all the evil things they've done. Now their sins surround them. Their sins are in my presence.

3 |They make kings happy with the wicked things they do. They make officials happy with the lies they tell.

4 They all commit adultery. They are like a heated oven, an oven so hot that a baker doesn't have to fan its flames when he makes bread.

5 On the day of the king's celebration, the officials become drunk from wine, and the king joins mockers.

6 They become hot like an oven while they lie in ambush. All night long their anger smolders, but in the morning it burns like a raging fire.

7 They are all as hot as an oven. They consume their judges [like a fire]. All their kings die in battle, and none of them calls to me.