7
1 “and when I wanted to heal them again,
I did not do it,
because I saw the wicked things that the people of Samaria city and other places in Israel [DOU] have done.
They constantly deceive others;
bandits rob people in the streets.
2 But they do not realize that I do not forget all the evil things that they do.
It is as though they are surrounded by all the sins that they commit;
and it is though those sins are always right in front of me [MTY].
3 Their king is delighted with the wicked things that the people do;
his officials are happy about the people’s lies.
4 The king and his officials are all treacherous.
They are always eager to do wicked things;
they are like [SIM] an oven that is very hot:
a baker mixes the dough and waits for it to expand,
and he does not need to cause the oven to become hotter.
5 The king and his officials get very drunk during their festivals,
carousing with others who also do foolish things.
6 The officials angrily plan to murder the king;
it is like [SIM] they have an oven in their inner beings.
All during the night their eagerness/wanting to murder the king is like a fire that is smouldering,
but in the morning it becomes like [MET] a roaring fire.
7 All those officials are like [MET] hot flames
that completely burn up their rulers,
so all their kings are murdered,
and no one pleads with me to help them.”
Other nations will not help them
8 “The leaders of Israel join with leaders of godless nations;
so the leaders of Israel are as worthless as a pancake that is cooked on only one side.
9 Joining with the rulers of foreign nations has caused Israel to be a weak nation,
but the Israelis do not realize that.
Israel has become like [MET] a gray-haired old man,
but the people of Israel do not realize it.
10 Their being proud [PRS] testifies against them,
but in spite of that, they do not return to me, Yahweh, their God,
or even try to know me.
11 The people of Israel have become foolish and stupid like [SIM] doves.
First they called out to Egypt to help them,
and then they sought help from Assyria.
12 But wherever they go to get help,
I will not allow them to succeed;
it will be as though [MET] I will throw a net over them
like [SIM] a hunter uses a net to capture birds;
I will punish them for the evil things that they do.
13 Terrible things will happen to them
because they abandoned/deserted me!
They will be destroyed
because they rebelled against me.
I wanted to rescue them,
but they tell lies about me.
14 They do not cry out to me sincerely [IDM];
they only lie on their beds and wail.
They gather together and ask me to give them grain and wine,
but they turn away from me.
15 I trained/taught them and enabled them to become strong,
but now they plan to do evil things to me.
16 They have rejected me, their Great God, and turned to their god Baal;
they are as useless as [SIM] a crooked bow.
Their leaders boast that they are very strong,
but they will be killed by their enemies’ swords.
As a result, the people of Egypt will laugh at them.”