Hosea 8
1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth: he shall come as an eagle against the House of the Lord, because they haue transgressed my couenant, and trespassed against my Lawe.
[Yahweh said to me], “Blow [MTY] your trumpet [to warn the people]! My people have rejected the agreement that I made with them, and they have rebelled against [obeying] my laws. Therefore, [their enemies] are swooping down on my people’s country like [SIM] an eagle.
2 Israel shall crie vnto me, My God, we know thee.
My Israeli people cry out to me, ‘Our God, we know that you are our God!’
3 Israel hath cast off ye thing that is good: the enemie shall pursue him.
But because the Israeli people have rejected what is good, their enemies will pursue them.
4 They haue set vp a King, but not by me: they haue made princes, and I knew it not: of their siluer and their gold haue they made them idoles: therefore shall they be destroyed.
The Israel people appointed [their last three] kings, but they did not ask me if I agreed to [what they were doing]. They chose their own leaders without asking if I would approve of them. They used their own silver and gold to make for themselves idols, and doing that led them to be destroyed.
5 Thy calfe, O Samaria, hath cast thee off: mine anger is kindled against them: howe long will they be without innocencie!
You people of Samaria, throw away your [idol that resembles a] calf! I am extremely angry with you people! How long [RHQ] will you [do things that cause] you to be unacceptable to me?
6 For it came euen from Israel: the workeman made it, therefore it is not God: but the calfe of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
[Someone in] Israel made that idol for you; [but I am] God and it is not. So that idol of a calf in Samaria must be smashed to pieces.
7 For they haue sowne the winde, and they shall reape the whirlewind: it hath no stalke: the budde shall bring foorth no meale: if so be it bring forth, the strangers shall deuoure it.
[The foolish thing that the people of Israel have done is like] [MET] trying to plant wind; but what they harvest will be like [MET] a whirlwind. So the grain that they planted will have no heads [on the stalks], and as a result [there will be no grain] from which to make flour. And if it did produce good grain, foreigners would [come and] steal it.
8 Israel is deuoured, now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessell wherein is no pleasure.
[The people of] Israel will be defeated [MET] [by their enemies]; they will be [scattered] among other nations and become worthless.
9 For they are gone vp to Asshur: they are as a wilde asse alone by himselfe: Ephraim hath hired louers.
Like [MET] donkeys that are looking for mates, they have requested [help] from Assyria; they paid money to [the leaders of Assyria] in order to [persuade those leaders to] protect them.
10 Yet though they haue hired among the nations, nowe will I gather them, and they shall sorowe a litle, for the burden of the King and the princes.
But although they have agreed to pay money each year to [the leaders of] those countries, I will soon gather them together [to punish them]. The great King [of Assyria] will cause them to suffer greatly.
11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sinne, his altars shalbe to sinne.
Although [the people of] Israel built many altars to present offerings [to their idols] to take away [their guilt for] sinning, those altars have become places where they commit [more] sins.
12 I haue written to them the great things of my Lawe: but they were counted as a strange thing.
I wrote many laws for them, but they disregarded them, saying that [they did not have to obey them because] they were different from laws that they had known previously.
13 They sacrifice flesh for ye sacrifices of mine offerings, and eate it: but the Lord accepteth them not: now will he remember their iniquitie, and visite their sinnes: they shall returne to Egypt.
They offer sacrifices to me, and they eat [some of] the meat of those sacrifices, [which is what I permitted them to do]. But I, Yahweh, am not pleased with those sacrifices. I remember the evil things that they have done, and I will punish them for the sins that they have committed: I will force them to [go to other countries] [and become slaves like they were] [MET] in Egypt.
14 For Israel hath forgotten his maker, and buildeth Temples, and Iudah hath increased strong cities: but I will sende a fire vpon his cities, and it shall deuoure the palaces thereof.
[The people of] Israel have abandoned/forgotten me, the one who created their [nation]; they have built palaces, and [the people of] Judah have built walls around many towns. But I will send a fire that will destroy all their cities and their fortresses.”
