Hosea 5-8 - Their Deeds Surround Them

From today's Bible reading:

Hosea 5:

The princes of Judah have become
like those who move the landmark;
upon them I will pour out
my wrath like water.

When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
and sent to the great king.

But he is not able to cure you
or heal your wound.

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

I will return again to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Hosea 6:

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes early away.

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;
there they dealt faithlessly with me.

(Adam had a covenant, too.)

Hosea 7:

But they do not consider
that I remember all their evil.

Now their deeds surround them;
they are before my face.

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

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

The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
yet they do not return to the LORD their God,
nor seek him, for all this.

They do not cry to me from the heart,
but they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
they rebel against me.

Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
yet they devise evil against me.

Hosea 8:

Set the trumpet to your lips!

For Israel has forgotten his Maker
and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
so I will send a fire upon his cities,
and it shall devour her strongholds.