Hosea 7:16

‘They return, but not to on high,

They are like an unreliable bow,

Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue,

This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Thus it was to Egypt that they returned and not to ‘on High'. They looked back to Egypt and not upwards towards YHWH. In other words they had ignored the One Who now with His net hovered over them on High to make them captive (Hosea 7:12). They were like someone who constantly missed the mark because they had an unreliable bow. (Unlike Him (Hosea 7:12) they would not be successful in their hunting). And the consequence was that their princes would die by the sword (a regular feature of the curses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28) because of their angry words, something which would bring derision on them in the land of Egypt. The angry words may indicate the angry words spoke by them in their thoughts and discussions about rebellion. Or the defiant words hurled at the Assyrians over the walls of Samaria before it fell, or afterwards when they had been made captive. How different it would have been had they instead come to YHWH with honest words demonstrating their faithfulness. The derision may be seen as arising because in the end they would have to submit to Assyria, and would thus be failed and disgraced rebels, or because they had trusted in Aram (Syria) to help them and were seen as fools for having done so, or because they had so often wavered between Egypt and Assyria, and were now suffering for it (thus giving the Egyptian viewpoint), or because it was indicative of Egypt's real attitude to its ‘allies', one of total self-interest, a treaty loyalty which quickly turned into derision when it resulted in failure (something which would never have been true of YHWH). It may also have in mind that in the wilderness one of the fears of Moses was that they would ‘return to Egypt' and be mocked at, along with YHWH (Exodus 32:12).