They are all adulterers: The pronoun They refers to the Israelite people in general. If this pronoun causes ambiguity (with possible reference to the king and his officials), it may have to be made explicit by saying “the people.” Calling them adulterers is undoubtedly meant in a figurative sense. Good News Translation uses nonfigurative language, saying “They are all treacherous and disloyal.” Adultery is frequently used as a picture of religious disloyalty to Yahweh, especially in the book of Hosea. But political disloyalty was also disloyalty to Yahweh. In this context political unfaithfulness is probably in focus. New American Bible emends the Hebrew text to read “They are all kindled to wrath,” but this emendation is not supported by any ancient version and is unnecessary. NET Bible proposes another emendation, saying “They are all like bakers.” This too is not recommended, since there is no evidence or support for it elsewhere in reliable sources.
They are like a heated oven… uses heat as a figure for anger or hatred, so Good News Translation makes the comparison clear with “Their hatred smolders like the fire in an oven….” The figure of an oven continues through 7.7. Ovens in Palestine were usually made of clay, shaped like cylinders about 1 meter (3 feet) high, with one opening at the top and another on one side at the bottom. A wood fire inside the oven made it hot. Dough that was formed to make loaves but was not yet leavened was placed on the inner wall of the oven. At first the fire was kept low until the dough was leavened. Then the walls were fully heated until the bread was fully baked.
Good News Translation introduces the verb “smolders” at the beginning of the comparison to keep the idea clear that hatred is kept under cover for a long time until the proper moment for the plot to be put into action. This may be the intended meaning behind whose baker ceases to stir the fire, that is, he allows the fire to smolder at a low heat from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. Good News Translation says “which is not stirred by the baker until the dough is ready to bake.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar by rendering this whole comparison as “their passion glows like an oven, which the baker has so carefully fired that he does not have to add anything while he kneads the dough and lets it rise.” De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling takes a different approach, saying “Their passion resembles an oven that has been heated up so high by a baker that he no longer needs to see it as he kneads the dough and makes it rise.” The Hebrew verb for heated usually means “burn” or “scorch,” so “smolders” seems to be chosen by Good News Translation to fit the context.
Kneading is the process of mixing the flour, water, and other ingredients to make the dough. It is then kept at a low heat at first. When the yeast produces the small bubbles of gas in the dough to make it swell to a larger size, it has been leavened and is ready to be baked. It would be senseless to prepare a roaring fire before the dough is ready.
Since the meaning of this simile may not be clear in some languages, a translation with the simile and its meaning may be necessary, such as “Their anger is like a heated oven, not stirred by the baker, who first kneads the dough and lets the yeast work in the dough; that is, they wait until their plot is ready to be carried out.”
A translation model for this verse is:
• All the people are unfaithful to the king and his officials,
their anger burns like an oven.
It has been stoked so hot,
that the baker does not have to attend to it again
while kneading the dough until it rises.
Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .