Hosea 8
1 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.
[He shall come] into their midst as the land, as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and have sinned against my law.
2 Israel calls out to me, “Our God, we know you!”
They shall soon cry out to me, [saying], O God, we know thee.
3 But Israel has rejected what is good. An enemy will chase after them.
For Israel has turned away from good things; they have pursued an enemy.
4 They appointed kings without my consent and chose princes without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.
They have made kings for themselves, but not by me: they have ruled, but they did not make it known to me: [of] their silver and their gold they have made images to themselves, that they might be destroyed.
5 Samaria, I reject this calf idol you have made! My anger burns against them! How long will you be incapable of being good?
Cast off thy calf, O Samaria; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will they be unable to purge themselves in Israel?
6 This idol is from Israel! A craftsman made it—it's not God! The calf of Samaria will be broken in pieces!
Whereas the workman made it, and it is not God; wherefore thy calf, Samaria, was a deceiver:
7 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.
for they sowed blighted [seed], and their destruction shall await them, a sheaf of corn that avails not to make meal; and even if it should produce it, strangers shall devour it.
8 Israel is swallowed up; among the nations they are like something nobody wants.
Israel is swallowed up: now is he become among the nations as a worthless vessel.
9 They have gone up to Assyria like a donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers.
For they have gone up to the Assyrians: Ephraim has been strengthened against himself; they loved gifts.
10 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.
Therefore shall they be delivered to the nations: now I will receive them, and they shall cease a little to anoint a king and princes.
11 Though Ephraim built many altars to make sin offerings, they instead became altars of sin!
Because Ephraim has multiplied altars, [his] beloved altars are become sins to him.
12 I wrote down for them the many aspects of my law, but they looked on them as foreign.
I will write down a multitude [of commands] for him; but his statutes are accounted strange things, [even] the beloved altars.
13 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.
For if they should offer a sacrifice, and eat flesh, the lord will not accept them: now will he remember their iniquities, and will take vengeance on their sins: they have returned to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things among the Assyrians.
14 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.
And Israel has forgotten him that made him, and they have built fanes, and Juda has multiplied walled cities: but I will send fire on his cities, and it shall devour their foundations.
