¹When I would heal Israel,

the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,

and the wickedness of Samaria.

For they deal deceitfully;

the thief breaks in;

the robbers raid outside,

²but they did not consider in their hearts

that I remember all their wickedness.

Now their own deeds surround them;

they are before My face.

Corrupt and Disloyal Politics

³They make the king glad with their wickedness,[#Ro 1:32]

and the princes with their lies.

⁴They are all adulterers,[#Jer 9:2]

like an oven heated by a baker,

who ceases stirring the fire

after kneading the dough until it is leavened.

⁵On the day of our king the princes made him sick

from the heat of wine.

He stretched out his hand with scorners.

⁶For they are kindled like an oven.[#7:6 Gk, Syr; Hb brought near .]

Their heart burns within them;

their anger smolders all night;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

⁷They are all hot as an oven,

and they devour their judges.

All their kings have fallen,

and none of them calls to Me.

⁸Ephraim mixes himself with the people.[#Ps 106:35; Hos 5:13]

Ephraim is a cake not turned.

⁹Foreigners devour his strength,[#Hos 8:7]

but he does not know it.

Gray hairs are here and there upon him,

but he does not know it.

¹⁰The pride of Israel testifies against him,[#Hos 5:5]

but they do not return to the Lord their God,

nor seek Him for all this.

¹¹Ephraim is like a dove,

silly and without sense;

they call to Egypt,

they go to Assyria.

¹²Wherever they go, I will spread My net over them;[#Eze 12:13]

I will bring them down like the birds of the sky;

I will discipline them according to

the report to their congregation.

¹³Woe to them,[#Hos 9:12]

for they have fled from Me!

Destruction to them,

for they have rebelled against Me!

Though I would redeem them,

yet they speak lies against Me.

¹⁴They do not cry to Me with their heart

when they howl on their beds.

They gather together for grain and wine,

they rebel against Me.

¹⁵Though I trained and strengthened their arms,

yet they devise mischief against Me.

¹⁶They return, but not to the Most High.

They are like a loose bow.

Their princes will fall by the sword

for the rage of their tongue.

This will be their derision

in the land of Egypt.