In my bringing back the captivity (distressed state) of my people,
‘When I would heal Israel,
Then is the iniquity of Ephraim uncovered,
And the wickedness of Samaria,
For they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in,
And the troop of robbers ravages without.'
Having given his warning shot to Judah Hosea immediately turns back to Israel, citing the words of YHWH. He does not want to divert attention from what He is saying to Israel/Ephraim. The word rendered ‘captivity' may indicate that, in an attempt to heal Israel, YHWH was preparing to arrange for those already in exile to be returned, or it may simply indicate the distressed state into which Israel had fallen from which He wished to restore them. Either way His attempt fails because in seeking to attempt it He somehow ‘uncovers the iniquity of Ephraim', and ‘the wickedness of Samaria'. Such language is of course anthropomorphic. His attempts may have taken place through men who were taking part in negotiations with Assyria, during which the perfidy of Israel was revealed. In mind may be attempts to parley with Assyria and leave the parts of Israel which had been captured in their hands as part of the price of relative freedom. In YHWH's eyes this would have been seen as treachery indeed (Hosea 6:7). But primary to the verse is the fact of the sin that ‘His investigation' has turned up. They were committing falsehood, there were a multiplicity of thieves breaking into other people's properties, and the roads were unfit to travel because of lurking bandits (possibly partly to do with the priests in Hosea 6:9). Israel and Samaria are now therefore revealed as a hotbed of lawlessness. Justice is almost non-existent. This was the consequence of having lawless kings who were simply adventurers.