Hosea 8
1 Let there be a trumpet in your throat, like an eagle over the house of the Lord, on behalf of those who have transgressed my covenant and violated my law.
Put a trumpet to your lips! An eagle swoops over the house of the Lord because they have broken my agreement and rebelled against my law.
2 They will call on me: “O my God, we, Israel, know you.”
Israel calls out to me, “Our God, we know you!”
3 Israel has thrown away goodness; the enemy will overtake him.
But Israel has rejected what is good. An enemy will chase after them.
4 They have reigned, but not by me. Leaders have emerged, and I did not recognize them. Their silver and their gold, they have made into idols for themselves, so that they might cross over.
They appointed kings without my consent and chose princes without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.
5 Your calf, Samaria, has been rejected. My fury has been enraged against them. How long will they be incapable of being cleansed?
Samaria, I reject this calf idol you have made! My anger burns against them! How long will you be incapable of being good?
6 For it is itself also from Israel: a workman made it, and it is not God. For the calf of Samaria will be used for the webs of spiders.
This idol is from Israel! A craftsman made it—it's not God! The calf of Samaria will be broken in pieces!
7 For they will sow wind and reap a whirlwind. It does not have a firm stalk; the bud will yield no grain. But if it does yield, strangers will eat it.
Those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head of grain; it will produce no flour. Even if it did produce grain, foreigners would swallow it all up.
8 Israel has been devoured. Now, among the nations, it has become like an unclean vessel.
Israel is swallowed up; among the nations they are like something nobody wants.
9 For they have gone up to Assur, a wild ass alone by himself. Ephraim has given presents to his lovers.
They have gone up to Assyria like a donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 But even when they will have brought the nations together for the sake of money, now I will assemble them. And they will rest for a little while from the burden of the king and the leaders.
Even though they have hired allies among the nations, I will gather them together. Then they will writhe under the burden of the great king.
11 For Ephraim multiplied altars to sin, and sanctuaries have become an offense for him.
Though Ephraim built many altars to make sin offerings, they instead became altars of sin!
12 I will write to him my intricate laws, which have been treated like strangers.
I wrote down for them the many aspects of my law, but they looked on them as foreign.
13 They will offer victims, they will immolate flesh and will eat, and the Lord will not accept them. For now he will remember their iniquity, and he will repay their sins: they will be turned back to Egypt.
They present me with their sacrifices, and they eat the meat, but I the Lord do not accept them. Now he will remember their wickedness, and punish them for their sins. They will return to Egypt.
14 And Israel has forgotten his Maker and has built shrines. And Judah has increased its fortified cities. And I will send fire upon his cities, and it will devour its structures.
Israel has forgotten his maker, and built palaces; Judah has built many fortified cities. But I will rain fire down on their cities and burn up their fortresses.
