The Wrong Influence - Hosea 7-8

The Wrong Influence
Hosea 7-8
when I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria, for they deal falsely; the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside. 2  But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face. 3  By their evil they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery. 4  They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. 5  On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers. 6  For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. 7  All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings have fallen, and none of them calls upon me.
8  Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
9  Strangers devour his strength, and he knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he knows it not. 10  The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him, for all this. 11  Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria. 12  As they go, I will spread over them my net; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens; I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation. 13  Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me. 14  They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.
15  Although I trained and strengthened their arms, yet they devise evil against me. 16  They return, but not upward; they are like a treacherous bow; their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
8 Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. 2  To me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.” 3  Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. 4  They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. 5  I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6  For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
7  For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it. 8  Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. 9  For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. 10  Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute. 11  Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. 12  Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. 13  As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. 14  For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds.