1 When I would heal Israel,Then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,And the evil deeds of Samaria,For they work falsehood;The thief enters in;Raiders 7:1Lit strip ransack outside,
2 And they do not say to their heartsThatI remember all their evil.Now their deeds are all around them;They are before My face.
3 With their evil they make the king glad,And the princes with their deceptions.
4 They are all adulterers,Like an oven heated by the bakerWho ceases to stir upthe fireFrom the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
5 On the 7:5 A festive occasion day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine;He stretched out his hand with scoffers,
6 For their hearts are like an ovenAsthey draw near in their 7:6Lit ambush plotting;Their 7:6As in some ancient versions; M.T. baker anger 7:6Lit sleeps smolders all night;In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot like an oven,And they devour their judges;All their kings have fallen.None of them calls on Me.
8 ¶Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;Ephraim has become a cake not turned.
9 Strangers devour his power,Yet he does not knowit;Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him,Yet he does not knowit.
10 So the pride of Israel answers against him,Yet they have not returned to Yahweh their God,Nor have they sought Him, for all this.
11 So Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without a heartof wisdom;They call to Egypt; they go to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will spread My net over them;I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.I will chastise them in accordance with the report to their congregation.
13 Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!Destruction is theirs, for they have transgressed against Me!And I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.
14 And they do not cry out to Me in their heartWhen they wail on their beds;For the sake of grain and new wine they 7:14 Gr and many ancient mss gash themselves gather together as sojourners;They depart from Me.
15 Although I disciplinedandstrengthened their arms,Yet they devise evil against Me.
16 They turn,butnot 7:16Or possibly to the Most High upward;They are like a deceitful bow;Their princes will fall by the swordBecause of the 7:16Or cursing indignation of their tongue.Thiswill betheir scoffing in the land of Egypt.