Hosea 7:4

⁴ They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneeded the dough, until it be leavened.

Israel

'The children of Israel,' in Isaiah 14:2, signify the Gentiles.

In Jeremiah 23:8, 'Israel' represents the spiritual natural church.

190. Internal Meaning of Hosea, Chapter 7

1-5 They have perverted all the truths of the Word and of doctrine. (3, 4)

6-10 They have perverted them by evil loves, (3, 3)

11 and by the knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man. (3)

12-16 Therefore they cannot be led back, because they are in falsities. (3)

Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.