Chapter 7

Ephraim’s Iniquity

¹When I heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim^a will be exposed,

as well as the crimes of Samaria.

For they practice deceit and thieves break in;

bandits raid in the streets.

²But 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.

³They delight the king with their evil,

and the princes with their lies.

⁴They 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.

⁵The princes are inflamed with wine

on the day of our king;

so he joins hands

with those who mock him.

⁶For they prepare their heart like an oven

while they lie in wait;

all night their anger smolders;^b

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot as an oven,

and they devour their rulers.

All their kings fall;

not one of them calls upon Me.

⁸Ephraim mixes with the nations;

Ephraim is an unturned cake.

⁹Foreigners consume his strength,

but he does not notice.

Even his hair is streaked with gray,

but he does not know.

¹⁰Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,

yet they do not return to the LORD their God;

despite all this, they do not seek Him.

¹¹So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—

calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

¹²As 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.^c

¹³Woe 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.

¹⁴They do not cry out to Me from their hearts

when they wail upon their beds.

They slash themselves^d for grain and new wine,

but turn away from Me.

¹⁵Although I trained and strengthened their arms,

they plot evil against Me.

¹⁶They 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.