Hosea 7:3

3 "They make kings happy with the wicked things they do. They make officials happy with the lies they tell.

Hosea 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 7:3

They make the king glad with their wickedness
Not any particular king; not Jeroboam the first, as Kimchi; nor Jehu, as Grotius; if any particular king, rather Jeroboam the second; but their kings in general, as the Septuagint render it, in succession, one after another; who were highly delighted and pleased with the priests in offering sacrifice to the calves, and with the people in attending to that idolatrous worship, by which they hoped to secure the kingdom of Israel to themselves, and prevent the people going to Jerusalem to worship: it made them glad to the heart to hear them say that God was as well pleased with sacrifices offered at Dan and Bethel, as at Jerusalem: and the princes with their lies;
with their idols and idolatrous practices, which are vanity and a lie; though some interpret this of their flatteries, either of them, or their favourites; and of their calumnies and detractions of such they had a dislike of.

Hosea 7:3 In-Context

1 "Whenever I want to heal Israel, all I can see is Ephraim's sin and Samaria's wickedness. People cheat each other. They break into houses and steal. They rob people in the streets.

2 They don't realize that I remember all the evil things they've done. Now their sins surround them. Their sins are in my presence.

3 "They make kings happy with the wicked things they do. They make officials happy with the lies they tell.

4 They all commit adultery. They are like a heated oven, an oven so hot that a baker doesn't have to fan its flames when he makes bread.

5 On the day of the king's celebration, the officials become drunk from wine, and the king joins mockers.