Sometimes I read parts of the Bible with a kind of stunned effect. It happened yesterday when I opened to Hosea 7. I felt like I was reading something regarding the current scene in the United States of America! When/if you read the following, see if it has the same impact on you.
[Remember
that The Voice Bible prints words that are NOT in the original text in italics.]
KEY TO UNDERSTANDING:
- Israel = the northern kingdom (Samaria) and the southern kingdom (Judea/Ephraim)
- God sees all the tribes as one!
- I have replaced references to Israel, Ephraim and Samaria with ‘America’ to help you see the similarities.
[America’s] wickedness will be laid open;
Also [America’s] evil will be revealed:
dishonesty is tolerated, thieves break in and bandits rob in the open.
2 They don’t realize I’m aware of all of the evil they’re doing.
Even now their sins are all around them—I can see them clearly.
3 The king celebrates their evil deeds,
and princes enjoy their deceptions.
4 All of them are adulterers with unquenchable lust.
They are like an oven overheated by a baker,
An oven so hot it doesn’t need to be stoked for several hours
from the time the dough is kneaded until it finishes rising.
5 Eternal One: When the king was celebrating and the princes were sick with drunkenness,
his conscience was dulled and he joined forces with rebels.
6 Their hearts are like a heated oven as they plot their schemes.
All night their anger smolders, but at dawn it blazes into a flaming fire.
7 All of them are as hot as an oven,
and they consume their own judges.
All of their kings have fallen; none of them calls on Me.
8 [America] is mixed up with all the other nations.
[America] is like a cake that hasn’t been turned over.
9 Foreigners are devouring his strength, taking territory and tribute,
but he doesn’t realize how weak he’s grown.
Gray hair is sprouting on his head,
but he doesn’t see what others observe.
10 [America’s] stubborn pride will testify against him.
The people haven’t come back to Me, their True God;
they haven’t asked Me for help despite all their troubles.
[I omitted verses 11-12]
13 May they [America] experience sorrow for wandering away from Me!
May they be destroyed for the way they’ve rebelled against Me!
I would like to buy them back from death,
but they would just keep lying to Me and against Me.
14 They’re not sincere when they cry out to Me for help.
They howl on their couches;
Hoping a god will send grain to gather and wine to enjoy.
They turn away from Me.
15 I trained them, I made their arms strong, I could have protected them,
but they devised evil schemes against Me.
16 They turn for help, but not to the Most High;
they’ve become as weak and ineffective as a loosely-strung bow.
Because of their defiant words, their leaders will be killed in battle,
and they’ll be the laughingstock of everyone in Egypt [the world].
GOD, HELP US!
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