Hosea 7:12

"When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the birds of the heavens; I will chastise them as their congregation hath heard."

McKeating made the startling comment on this that, "So Israel, in her foreign diplomacy, flaps around, not knowing that God is waiting with his shotgun!"[13] This is surely the meaning of the passage. This is another verse in which the scholars have great difficulty agreeing on a translation, due to difficulties in the Masoretic text. We are not certain just what kind of "net" is meant here, or how it could "bring down" like the birds of the heavens; but the general meaning is undeniable. Israel's methods of self-preservation would prove worse than useless, and God would punish them as he had promised and as they richly deserved.