CHAPTER 7
When I would heal
Israel,
the iniquity
of Ephraim
is exposed,
with the crimes
of Samaria.
For
they practice
deceit
and thieves
break in;
bandits
rob
in the streets.
But they fail to
consider
in their hearts
that I remember
all
their evil.
Now
their deeds
are all around them;
they are
before
My face.
They are all
adulterers,
like
an oven
heated
by a baker
who needs not
stoke the fire
from the kneading
to
the rising
of the dough.
The princes
are inflamed
with wine
on the day
of our king;
so he joins hands
with
those who mock him.
For
they prepare
their heart
like an oven,
while they lie in wait;
all
night
their anger
smolders;
in the morning
it
blazes
like a flaming
fire.
All
of them are as hot
as an oven,
and they consume
their rulers.
All
their kings
fall;
not one
of them
calls
upon Me.
Foreigners
consume
his strength,
but he
does not
notice.
Even
his hair is streaked
with gray,
but he
does not
realize.
Israel’s
arrogance
testifies
against them,
yet they do not
return
to
the LORD
their God;
despite all
this,
they do not
seek Him.
So Ephraim
has become
like a silly,
senseless
dove—
calling out
to Egypt,
then turning
to Assyria.
As
they go,
I will spread
My net
over them;
I will bring them down
like birds
of the air.
I will chastise them
when I hear them
flocking together.
Woe
to them,
for
they have strayed
from Me!
Destruction
to them,
for
they have rebelled
against Me!
Though I
would redeem them,
they speak
lies
against Me.
They do not
cry out
to Me
from their hearts
when
they wail
upon
their beds.
They slash themselves
for
grain
and new wine,
but turn away
from Me.
They turn,
but not
to the Most High;
they are
like a faulty
bow.
Their leaders
will fall
by the sword
for the cursing
of their tongue;
for this
they will be ridiculed
in the land
of Egypt.