Hosea 7:1-10

whenever I desire to heal Israel, I am confronted by Ephraim’s guilt, and all I can see is Samaria’s sin. For they all practice deceit. No place is secure. They break into homes and steal. Gangs raid in the open. But it never occurs to them that I, , remember all their evil deeds. They are all prisoners of their own wickedness, and their sin stares me in the face.” says, “They deceive the king with their wickedness and the rulers with their lies. They are all unfaithful to the king. Their anger is like an overheated oven. Their oven burns so hot that the baker could knead his bread at night until it rises in the morning and he still wouldn’t need to stoke the fire. On the king’s day of celebration , his officials are drunk with wine, and the king trusted the traitors. Their hearts are like an oven that burns with treachery. All night long, their anger smolders; then in the morning, it bursts into flame. Yes, they are all as hot as an oven, ready to consume their rulers. All their kings have fallen in this way, yet not one of them has ever called on me.” YAHWEH YAHWEH says, “Ephraim mixes with the nations. My people are like half-done flatbread, burnt on one side and raw dough on the other. Ephraim does not realize alliances with foreigners devoured his strength; even his hair has turned gray, but he has no clue. Israel’s arrogance has become his own accuser. Yet in spite of all these troubles, they do not seek me, YAHWEH their God, nor come back to me.