Hosea 7:16 - Prayer Tents

7"Whenever I want to heal my people Israel and make them prosperous again, all I can see is their wickedness and the evil they do. They cheat one another; they break into houses and steal; they rob people in the streets.H7495H3478H5771H669H1540H7451H8111H6466H8267H1590H935H1416H6584H2351 2It never enters their heads that I will remember all this evil; but their sins surround them, and I cannot avoid seeing them."H559H3824H2142H7451H4611H5437H6440

Conspiracy in the Palace

3The LORD says, "People deceive the king and his officers by their evil plots.H4428H8055H7451H8269H3585 4They are all treacherous and disloyal. Their hatred smolders like the fire in an oven, which is not stirred by the baker until the dough is ready to bake.H5003H8574H1197H644H7673H5782H3888H1217H2556 5On the day of the king's celebration they made the king and his officials drunk and foolish with wine.H3117H4428H8269H2470H2534H3196H4900H3027H3945 6Yes, they burned like an oven with their plotting. All night their anger smoldered, and in the morning it burst into flames.H7126H3820H8574H693H644H3463H3915H1242H1197H3852H784 7"In the heat of their anger they murdered their rulers. Their kings have been assassinated one after another, but no one prays to me for help."H2552H8574H398H8199H4428H5307H7121

Israel and the Nations

8The LORD says, "The people of Israel are like a half-baked loaf of bread. They rely on the nations around themH669H1101H5971H669H5692H2015 9and do not realize that this reliance on foreigners has robbed them of their strength. Their days are numbered, but they don't even know it.H2114H398H3581H3045H7872H2236H3045 10The arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them. In spite of everything that has happened, they have not returned to me, the LORD their God.H1347H3478H6030H6440H7725H3068H430H1245 11Israel flits around like a silly pigeon; first her people call on Egypt for help, and then they run to Assyria!H669H6601H3123H3820H7121H4714H1980H804 12But I will spread out a net and catch them like birds as they go by. I will punish them for the evil they have done.H3212H6566H7568H3381H5775H8064H3256H5712H8088 13"They are doomed! They have left me and rebelled against me. They will be destroyed. I wanted to save them, but their worship of me was false.H188H5074H7701H6586H6299H1696H3577 14They have not prayed to me sincerely, but instead they throw themselves down and wail as the heathen do. When they pray for grain and wine, they gash themselves like pagans. What rebels they are!H2199H3820H3213H4904H1481H1715H8492H5493 15Even though I was the one who brought them up and made them strong, they plotted against me.H3256H2388H2220H2803H7451 16They keep on turning away from me to a god that is powerless. They are as unreliable as a crooked bow. Because their leaders talk arrogantly, they will die a violent death, and the Egyptians will laugh."H7725H5920H7423H7198H8269H5307H2719H2195H3956H2097H3933H776H4714