Hosea 7

sounds like America under a Deadpan-ocrat administration...

Hosea 7

1 whenever I would heal Israel,
the sins of Ephraim are exposed
and the crimes of Samaria revealed.*
They practice deceit,
thieves break into houses,*
bandits rob in the streets;
2 but they do not realize
that I remember all their evil deeds.
Their sins engulf them;*
they are always before me.
3 "They delight the king with their wickedness,
the princes with their lies.*
4 They are all adulterers,*
burning like an oven
whose fire the baker need not stir
from the kneading of the dough till it rises.
5 On the day of the festival of our king
the princes become inflamed with wine,*
and he joins hands with the mockers.
6 Their hearts are like an oven;
they approach him with intrigue.
Their passion smolders all night;
in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot as an oven;
they devour their rulers.
All their kings fall,
and none of them calls on me.
8 "Ephraim mixes* with the nations;
Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over.
9 Foreigners sap his strength,*
but he does not realize it.
His hair is sprinkled with gray,
but he does not notice.
10 Israel's arrogance testifies against him,*
but despite all this
he does not return to the LORD his God
or search* for him.
11 "Ephraim is like a dove,
easily deceived and senseless-
now calling to Egypt,
now turning to Assyria.
12 When they go, I will throw my net* over them;
I will pull them down like birds of the air.
When I hear them flocking together,
I will catch them.
13 Woe to them,
because they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them,
because they have rebelled against me!
I long to redeem them
but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts*
but wail upon their beds.
They gather together+ for grain and new wine
but turn away from me.
15 I trained them and strengthened them,
but they plot evil* against me.
16 They do not turn to the Most High;
they are like a faulty bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because of their insolent words.
For this they will be ridiculed
in the land of Egypt.*

*7:1 = Hos 6:4 - What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.

*7:1 = Hos 4:2 - There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

*7:2 = Jer 2:19 - Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

*7:3 = Mic 7:3 - Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire- they all conspire together.

*7:4 = Jer 9:2 - Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.

*7:5 = Isa 28:1,7 - Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley- to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine! And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.

*7:8 = Ps 106:35 - but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.

*7:9 = Hos 8:7 - They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.

*7:10 = Hos 5:5 - Israel's arrogance testifies against them; the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them.

*7:10 = Isa 9:13 - But the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD Almighty.

*7:12 = Eze 12:13 - I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylonia, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.

*7:14 = Jer 3:10 - In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense," declares the LORD .

+7:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint They slash themselves

*7:15 = Na 1:9,11 - Whatever they plot against the LORD he will bring to an end; trouble will not come a second time. From you, O Nineveh , has one come forth who plots evil against the LORD and counsels wickedness.

*7:16 = Hos 9:3 - They will not remain in the LORD's land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.

ouchie!...but it's not just the Dems' fault society as a whole has fallen, and it doesn't really matter you political ideology if you're not following the commands of God...i'm not really sure how sincere Dubya's Christianity is, but i have no reasons thus far to doubt his faith...i know i certainly wouldn't do everything he's done, but then, i'm not the President...at least Dubya seems to poking along in the right direction, and we should be praying for him...