Hosea 7

When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without.

1God says: I wanted to heal Israel. But then Ephraim's sin came into the open. So did the evil of the city of Samaria. The people lie. Thieves break into houses. Robbers rob out in the streets.

NoteEphraim was one of the tribes of Israel. Here the name stands for the whole northern part of Israel. Samaria was its main city.

2And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.

2They never stop to think that I remember all their evil. Now their own deeds are all around them. I see every one of them.

3They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

3They make the king happy with the evil they do. They make the leaders happy with their lies.

4They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

4They all cheat on the people they married. They are like an oven the baker heats up. He does not need to touch the fire while the dough rises.

5In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.

5On the king's special day, the leaders got hot with too much wine. The king joined hands with men who made fun of him.

6For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

6They get their hearts ready like a hot oven while they wait to attack. All night their anger sits and smolders. In the morning it burns like fire.

7They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

7They are all hot as an oven. They destroy their own judges. All their kings have fallen down. Not one of them calls out to me.

8Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

8Ephraim mixes himself in with the other nations. Ephraim is like a flat cake cooked on only one side.

NoteA "cake not turned" is flat bread left on the hot stone too long on one side. It is burned on the bottom and still raw on top.

9Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.

9Strangers eat up his strength, and he does not notice. Gray hairs are showing on his head, and he does not notice.

10And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

10Israel's pride speaks against them, right to their face. Still they do not come back to the LORD their God. After all this, they still do not look for him.

11Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

11Ephraim is like a silly dove with no sense at all. They call out to Egypt. Then they run to Assyria.

12When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.

12When they go, I will spread my net over them. I will bring them down like birds in the sky. I will punish them, just as they were told I would.

13Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

13How sad for them! They have run away from me. Ruin is coming, because they turned against me. I would have saved them. But they told lies about me.

14And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

14They did not cry out to me from their hearts. They only cried loudly on their beds. They gather together to beg for grain and wine. But they still turn against me.

Note"Corn" in the King James Bible means grain of any kind, like wheat or barley. It does not mean the corn on a cob.

15Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

15I trained their arms and made them strong. Yet they still plan bad things against me.

16They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

16They turn, but not to God, the Most High. They are like a bow that shoots crooked. Their leaders will be killed in war because of their angry words. People in Egypt will laugh at them for this.