Hosea 8
1 Let there be a trumpet in thy throat like an eagle upon the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and have 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 shall call upon me: O my God, we, Israel, know thee.
Israel calls out to me, “Our God, we know you!”
3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good, the enemy shall pursue him.
But Israel has rejected what is good. An enemy will chase after them.
4 They have reigned, but not by me: they have been princes, and I knew not: of their silver, and their gold they have made idols to themselves, that they might perish.
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 Thy calf, O Samaria, is cast off, my wrath is kindled 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 itself also is the invention of Israel: a workman made it, and it is no god: for the calf of Samaria shall be turned to spiders’ webs.
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 shall sow wind, and reap a whirlwind, there is no standing stalk in it, the bud shall yield no meal; and if it should yield, strangers shall 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 is swallowed up: now is he become among the nations like an unclean vessel.
Israel is swallowed up; among the nations they are like something nobody wants.
9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath given gifts to his lovers.
They have gone up to Assyria like a donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 But even though they shall have hired the nations, now will I gather them together: and they shall rest a while from the burden of the king, and the princes.
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 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin: altars are become to him unto sin.
Though Ephraim built many altars to make sin offerings, they instead became altars of sin!
12 I shall write to him my manifold laws, which have been accounted as foreign.
I wrote down for them the many aspects of my law, but they looked on them as foreign.
13 They shall offer victims, they shall sacrifice flesh, and shall eat it, and the Lord will not receive them: now will he remember their iniquity, and will visit their sins: they shall return 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 hath forgotten his Maker, and hath built temples: and Juda hath built many fenced cities: and I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the houses thereof.
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.
