7 when I heal Israel,(A)
the iniquity of Ephraim(B) and the crimes of Samaria(C)
will be exposed.
For they practice fraud;(D)
a thief breaks in;
a raiding party pillages outside.(E)
2 But they never consider that I remember all their evil.(F)
Now their actions are all around them;(G)
they are right in front of my face.
Israel’s Corruption
3 They please the king with their evil,(H)
the princes with their lies.(I)
4 All of them commit adultery;(J)
they are like an oven heated by a baker
who stops stirring the fire
from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king,
the princes are sick with the heat of wine(K)—
there is a conspiracy with traitors.[a]
6 For they—their hearts like an oven—
draw him into their oven.
Their anger smolders all night;
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are as hot as an oven,(L)
and they consume their rulers.(M)
All their kings fall;
not one of them calls on me.[b]
8 Ephraim has allowed himself to get mixed up with the nations.
Ephraim is unturned bread baked on a griddle.
9 Foreigners consume his strength,(N)
but he does not notice.(O)
Even his hair is streaked with gray,
but he does not notice.
10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,[c](P)
yet they do not return to the Lord their God,(Q)
and for all this, they do not seek him.
11 So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove;(R)
they call to Egypt,(S) and they go to Assyria.(T)
12 As they are going, I will spread my net over them;(U)
I will bring them down like birds of the sky.
I will discipline them in accordance
with the news that reaches[d] their assembly.
The Lord’s Second Lament
13 Woe to them,(V) for they fled from me;(W)
destruction to them, for they rebelled against me!
Though I want to redeem them,(X)
they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry to me from their hearts;
rather, they wail on their beds.
They slash themselves[e](Y) for grain and new wine;(Z)
they turn away from me.
15 I trained and strengthened their arms,(AA)
but they plot evil against me.(AB)
16 They turn, but not to what is above;[f]
they are like a faulty bow.(AC)
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because of their insolent tongue.(AD)
They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt.(AE)
Footnotes
- 7:5 Lit wine—he stretches out his hand to scorners; Hb obscure
- 7:3–7 These vv. may refer to a king’s assassination; Hb obscure.
- 7:10 Lit against his face
- 7:12 Lit news to
- 7:14 Some Hb mss, LXX; other Hb mss read They stay
- 7:16 Some emend to turn to what is useless
Cross references
- 7:1 : Ezk 24:13; Hs 6:4; 7:13; 11:8
- 7:1 : Hs 5:3
- 7:1 : Hs 8:5–6; 10:5,7; 13:16
- 7:1 : Hs 4:2
- 7:1 : Hs 6:9
- 7:2 : Ps 25:7; Jr 14:10; 17:1; Am 8:7
- 7:2 : Jr 2:19; 4:18; Hs 4:9
- 7:3 : Jr 28:1–4; Mc 7:3
- 7:3 : Hs 4:2; 11:12
- 7:4 : Jr 9:2; 23:10
- 7:5 : Is 28:1,7–8
- 7:7 : Ps 21:9
- 7:7 : Hs 13:10
- 7:9 : Is 1:7
- 7:9 : Hs 4:6
- 7:10 : Hs 5:5
- 7:10 : Hs 5:4
- 7:11 : Hs 4:6,11,14; 5:4
- 7:11 : Hs 8:13; 9:3,6
- 7:11 : Hs 5:13; 8:9; 12:1
- 7:12 : Ezk 12:13
- 7:13 : Hs 9:12
- 7:13 : Jr 14:10; Hs 9:17
- 7:13 : Jr 51:9; Hs 7:1; Mt 23:37
- 7:14 : 1Kg 18:28
- 7:14 : Am 2:8
- 7:15 : Hs 11:3
- 7:15 : Nah 1:9
- 7:16 : Ps 78:57
- 7:16 : Ps 12:3–4; 17:10; Dn 7:25; Mal 3:13–14
- 7:16 : Ezk 23:32