Hosea 7:1-8

1 #3when I would heal Israel, the corruption of Ephraim is revealed, and the wicked 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 wickedness. Now their deeds surround them, they are before my face.

3 By their wickedness they make the king glad, and the officials by their treachery.

4 They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven, whose baker does not need to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

5 On the day of our king the officials became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers.

6 For they are kindled like an oven, their heart burns within them; 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; none of them calls upon me.

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

Hosea 7:1-8 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Gk Syr: Heb [brought near]