Hosea 7:1-7 ▼

1 “I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great. Samaria is filled with liars. Thieves are on the inside and bandits on the outside!

2 Its people don’t realize that I am watching them. Their sinful deeds are all around them, and I see them all.

3 “The people entertain the king with their wickedness, and the princes laugh at their lies.

4 They are all adulterers, always aflame with lust. They are like an oven that is kept hot while the baker is kneading the dough.

5 On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine, carousing with those who mock them.

6 Their hearts are like an oven blazing with intrigue. Their plot smolders through the night, and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.

7 Burning like an oven, they consume their leaders. They kill their kings one after another, and no one cries to me for help.