Hosea 7

1 When I would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have committed falsehood, and the thief is come in to steal, the robber is without.

“and when I wanted to heal them [again], [I did not do it, ] [because] I saw the wicked things that [the people of] Samaria [city] and [other places in] Israel [DOU] have done. They constantly deceive others; bandits rob people in the streets.

2 And lest they may say in their hearts, that I remember all their wickedness: their own devices now have beset them about, they have been done before my face.

But they do not realize that I do not forget all the evil things that they do. [It is as though] they are surrounded by [all] the sins that they commit; and [it is though] those sins are [always right] in front of me [MTY].

3 They have made the king glad with their wickedness: and the princes with their lies.

Their king is delighted with the wicked things that the people do; his officials are happy about the people’s lies.

4 They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker: the city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole was leavened.

[The king and his officials] are all treacherous. [They are always eager to do wicked things; ] they are like [SIM] an oven that is [very] hot: a baker mixes the dough and waits for it to expand, and he does not [need to] cause the oven to become hotter.

5 The day of our king, the princes began to be mad with wine: he stretched out his hand with scorners.

The king and his officials get very drunk during their festivals, carousing with others who also do foolish things.

6 Because they have applied their heart like an oven, when he laid snares for them: he slept all the night baking them, in the morning he himself was heated as a flaming fire.

The officials angrily plan to murder the king; it is like [SIM] they have an oven in their inner beings. All during the night their [eagerness/wanting to murder the king] is like a fire that is smouldering, but in the morning it becomes like [MET] a roaring fire.

7 They were all heated like an oven, and have devoured their judges: all their kings have fallen: there is none amongst them that calleth unto me.

All those officials are like [MET] hot flames that completely burn up their rulers, so all their kings are murdered, and no one pleads with me [to help them].”

8 Ephraim himself is mixed among the nations: Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned.

“[The leaders of] Israel join with leaders of [godless] nations; so [the leaders of] Israel are [as worthless as] a pancake that is cooked on only one side.

9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea, grey hairs also are spread about upon him, and he is ignorant of it.

Joining with the rulers of foreign nations has caused Israel to be a weak [nation], but the Israelis do not realize that. Israel has become [like] [MET] a gray-haired old man, but the people of Israel do not realize it.

10 And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these.

Their being proud [PRS] testifies against them, but in spite of that, they do not return to [me], Yahweh, their God, or [even] try to know me.

11 And Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a heart: they called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians.

[The people of] Israel have become foolish and stupid like [SIM] doves. [First] they called out to Egypt [to help them], [and then] they sought help from Assyria.

12 And when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowl of the air, I will strike them as their congregation hath heard.

But wherever they go [to get help], [I will not allow them to succeed]; [it will be as though] [MET] I will throw a net over them like [SIM] [a hunter uses a net to capture] birds; I will punish them for the evil things that they do.

13 Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they shall be wasted because they have transgressed against me: and I redeemed them: and they have spoken lies against me.

Terrible things will happen to them because they abandoned/deserted me! They will be destroyed because they rebelled against me. I wanted to rescue them, but they tell lies about me.

14 And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howled in their beds: they have thought upon wheat and wine, they are departed from me.

They do not cry out to me sincerely [IDM]; they [only] lie on their beds and wail. They gather together and ask [me to give them] grain and wine, but they turn away from me.

15 And I have chastised them, and strengthened their arms: and they have imagined evil against me.

I trained/taught them and enabled them to become strong, but now they plan [to do] evil things to me.

16 They returned, that they might be without yoke: they became like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, for the rage of their tongue. This is their derision in the land of Egypt.

They have rejected me, their Great God, and turned to their god Baal; they are [as useless] as [SIM] a crooked bow. Their leaders boast [that they are very strong], but they will be killed by [their enemies’] swords. As a result, [the people of] Egypt will laugh at them.”