Hosea 7:2-12

2 But they do not consider that ¹I remember all their evil. Now ²their deeds surround them; ³they are before my face.

3 By their evil ⁴they make ⁵the king glad, and the princes by their treachery.

4 ⁶They 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 ⁷our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers.

6 For with hearts like an oven ⁸they 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 ⁹their kings ¹⁰have fallen, and none of them calls upon me.

8 Ephraim ¹¹mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

9 ¹²Strangers devour his strength, and ¹³he knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and ¹⁴he knows it not.

10 ¹⁵The pride of Israel testifies to his face;^{[a] 16}yet they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him, for all this.

11 Ephraim is like a dove, ¹⁷silly and without sense, calling to ¹⁸Egypt, going to ¹⁹Assyria.

12 As they go, ²⁰I will spread over them my net; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens; ²¹I will discipline them ²²according to the report made to their congregation.

Hosea 7:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 7

This chapter either begins a new sermon, discourse, or prophecy, or it is a continuation of the former; at least it seems to be of the same argument with the latter part of it, only it is directed to Israel alone; and consists of complaints against them because of their manifold sins, and of denunciations of punishment for them. They are charged with ingratitude to God, sinning in a daring manner against mercy, and with falsehood, thefts, and robberies, Ho 7:1; with want of consideration of the omniscience of God, and his notice of their sins, which surrounded them, Ho 7:2; with flattery to their king and princes, Ho 7:3; with adultery, which lust raged in them like a heated oven, Ho 7:4; with drunkenness, aggravated by drawing their king into it, Ho 7:5; with raging lusts, which devoured their judges, made their kings to fall, and brought on such a general corruption, that there were none that called upon the Lord, Ho 7:6,7; with mixing themselves with the nations of the earth, and so learning their ways, and bringing their superstition and idolatry into the worship of God, so that they were nothing in religion, like a half baked cake, Ho 7:8; with stupidity and insensibility of their declining state, Ho 7:9; with pride, impenitence, and stubbornness, Ho 7:10; with folly, in seeking to Egypt and Assyria for help, and not to the Lord; for which they would be taken as birds in a net, and sorely chastised, Ho 7:11,12; with ingratitude, hypocrisy, and deceitfulness; for all which they are threatened with destruction, Ho 7:13-16.

Cross References

• 1. [Hosea 5:3]
• 2. Psalms 9:16; Proverbs 5:22
• 3. Psalms 90:8
• 4. ver. 5; [Romans 1:32]
• 5. ver. 5; [Romans 1:32]
• 6. See Hosea 6:10
• 7. ver. 3
• 8. Hosea 6:9
• 9. Hosea 8:4
• 10. 2 Kgs. 15:10, 14, 25, 30
• 11. Psalms 106:35
• 12. [Hosea 8:7]
• 13. Isaiah 42:25
• 14. Isaiah 42:25
• 15. Hosea 5:5
• 16. Isaiah 9:13
• 17. Hosea 4:11
• 18. [Hosea 12:1; 2 Kings 17:4]
• 19. See Hosea 5:13
• 20. See Ezekiel 12:13
• 21. Hosea 10:10
• 22. See Leviticus 26:14-39; Deuteronomy 28:15-68

Footnotes

• [a]. Or in his presence