HOSEA 7 [†]  x When I would heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of  y Samaria;

for  z they deal falsely;

the thief breaks in,

and the bandits raid outside.

2[†] But they do not consider

that  a I remember all their evil.

Now  b their deeds surround them;

 c they are before my face.

3 By their evil  d they make  d the king glad,

and the princes by their treachery.

4[†]  e They are all adulterers;

they are like a heated oven

whose baker ceases to stir the fire,

from the kneading of the dough

until it is leavened.

5[^] On the day of  f our king, the princes

became sick with the heat of wine;

he stretched out his hand with mockers.

6 For with hearts like an oven  g they approach their intrigue;

all night their anger smolders;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

7 All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All  h their kings  i have fallen,

and none of them calls upon me.

8[†] Ephraim  j mixes himself with the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake not turned.

9[†]  k Strangers devour his strength,

and  l he knows it not;

gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,

and  l he knows it not.

10[†]  m The pride of Israel testifies to his face; [1]

 n yet they do not return to the LORD their God,

nor seek him, for all this.

11[†] Ephraim is like a dove,

 o silly and without sense,

calling to  p Egypt, going to  q Assyria.

12 As they go,  r I will spread over them my net;

I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;

 s I will discipline them  t according to the report made to their congregation.

13  u Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!

Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!

 v I would redeem them,

but  w they speak lies against me.

14[†]  x They do not cry to me from the heart,

but  y they wail upon their beds;

for grain and wine they gash themselves;

they rebel against me.

15 Although  z I trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they devise evil against me.

16[†] They  a return, but not upward; [2]

they are  b like a treacherous bow;

their princes shall fall by the sword

because of  c the insolence of their tongue.

This shall be their derision  d in the land of Egypt.