Hosea 8
1 Set the horn to thy mouth. As a vulture he cometh against the house of the LORD; because they have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law.
[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 Will they cry unto Me: 'My God, we Israel know Thee'?
My Israeli people cry out to me, ‘Our God, we know that you are our God!’
3 Israel hath cast off that which is good; the enemy shall pursue him.
But because the Israeli people have rejected what is good, their enemies will pursue them.
4 They have set up kings, but not from Me, they have made princes, and I knew it not; of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.
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 calf, O Samaria, is cast off; Mine anger is kindled against them; how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
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 from Israel is even this: the craftsman made it, and it is no God; yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in shivers.
[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 sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind; it hath no stalk, the bud that shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.
[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 swallowed up; now are they become among the nations as a vessel wherein is no value.
[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 up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim hath hired lovers.
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 Yea, though they hire among the nations, now will I gather them up; and they begin to be minished by reason of the burden of king and 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 For Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, yea, altars have been unto him to sin.
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 Though I write for him never so many things of My Law, they are accounted as a stranger's.
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 As for the sacrifices that are made by fire unto Me, let them sacrifice flesh and eat it, for the LORD accepteth them not. Now will He remember their iniquity, and punish their sins; they shall return 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 builded palaces, and Judah hath multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the castles 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.”
