HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1161
HOSEA 7
page 791
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—
to slaughter you with my words,
with judgments as inescapable as light.
I want you to show love,*
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me*
more than I want burnt offerings.
But like Adam,* you broke my covenant
and betrayed my trust.
“Gilead is a city of sinners,
tracked with footprints of blood.
Priests form bands of robbers,
waiting in ambush for their victims.
They murder travelers along the road to
Shechem
and practice every kind of sin.
Yes, I have seen something horrible in
Ephraim and Israel:
My people are defiled by prostituting
themselves with other gods!
“O Judah, a harvest of punishment is also
waiting for you,
though I wanted to restore the fortunes
of my people.
Israel’s Love for Wickedness
1 “I want to heal Israel, but its* sins are
too great.
Samaria is filled with liars.
Thieves are on the inside
and bandits on the outside!
2 Its people don’t realize
that I am watching them.
Their sinful deeds are all around them,
and I see them all.
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“The people entertain the king with their
wickedness,
and the princes laugh at their lies.
They are all adulterers,
always aflame with lust.
They are like an oven that is kept hot
while the baker is kneading the dough.
On royal holidays, the princes get drunk
with wine,
carousing with those who mock them.
Their hearts are like an oven
blazing with intrigue.
Their plot smolders* through the night,
and in the morning it breaks out like a
raging fire.
Burning like an oven,
they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
and no one cries to me for help.
6:6a Greek version translates this Hebrew term as to show
mercy. Compare Matt 9:13; 12:7. 6:6b Hebrew to know God.
6:7 Or But at Adam. 7:1 Hebrew Ephraim’s, referring to the
northern kingdom of Israel; similarly in 7:8, 11. 7:6 Hebrew
Their baker sleeps. 7:12 Hebrew I will punish them because of
what was reported against them in the assembly. 7:14 As in
Greek version; Hebrew reads They gather together.
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“The people of Israel mingle with godless
foreigners,
making themselves as worthless as a
half-baked cake!
Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their
strength,
but they don’t even know it.
Their hair is gray,
but they don’t realize they’re old and
weak.
Their arrogance testifies against them,
yet they don’t return to the Lord
their God
or even try to find him.
“The people of Israel have become like silly,
witless doves,
first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria
for help.
But as they fly about,
I will throw my net over them
and bring them down like a bird from
the sky.
I will punish them for all the evil they do.*
“What sorrow awaits those who have
deserted me!
Let them die, for they have rebelled
against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
but they have told lies about me.
They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
Instead, they sit on their couches
and wail.
They cut themselves,* begging foreign
gods for grain and new wine,
and they turn away from me.
I trained them and made them strong,
yet now they plot evil against me.
They look everywhere except to the
Most High.
They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
• Will of God
HOS E A 6:3
Hosea is talking about a fervent effort
to know God. Knowledge of God’s
will and wisdom isn’t cheap; it doesn’t
lie around in an obvious place for the
casual inquirer. But when we press on
with real determination to know the
Lord, he will respond to us—Hosea
was confident of this. In what ways
have you demonstrated a great determination to know God and understand
his ways?