Hosea 8

1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he comes against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

2 They shall cry to me, My God, we, Israel know thee.

3 Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy shall pursue him.

4 They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made rulers, and I knew it not. They have made themselves idols of their silver and their gold, that they may be cut off.

5 He has cast off thy calf, O Samaria. My anger is kindled against them. How long will it be ere they attain to innocence?

6 For even this is from Israel: the workman made it, and it is no God. Yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The blade shall yield no meal. If so be it yields, strangers shall swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up. They are now among the nations as a vessel in which no man delights.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey alone by himself. Ephraim has hired lovers.

10 Yea, though they hire among the nations, I will now gather them, and they shall begin to be diminished because of the burden of the king of rulers.

11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, altars have been to him for sinning.

12 I wrote for him the multitude of my law, but they are counted as a strange thing.

13 As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but Jehovah does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. They shall return to Egypt.

14 For Israel has forgotten his maker, and built palaces. And Judah has multiplied fortified cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the castles thereof.