Hosea 7:2-7

The Message

Despite All the Signs, Israel Ignores God

7 ^1-2“Every time I gave Israel a fresh start,
    wiped the slate clean and got them going again,
Ephraim soon filled the slate with new sins,
    the treachery of Samaria written out in bold print.
Two-faced and double-tongued,
    they steal you blind, pick you clean.
It never crosses their mind
    that I keep account of their every crime.
They’re mud-spattered head to toe with the residue of sin.
    I see who they are and what they’ve done.

^3-7“They entertain the king with their evil circus,
    delight the princes with their acrobatic lies.
They’re a bunch of overheated adulterers,
    like an oven that holds its heat
From the kneading of the dough
    to the rising of the bread.
On the royal holiday the princes get drunk
    on wine and the frenzy of the mocking mob.
They’re like wood stoves,
    red-hot with lust.
Through the night their passion is banked;
    in the morning it blazes up, flames hungrily licking.
Murderous and volcanic,
    they incinerate their rulers.
Their kings fall one by one,
    and no one pays any attention to me.