Hosea 8

1 “To your mouth—a horn, As an eagle against the house of YHWH, Because they transgressed My covenant, And against My law they have rebelled.

Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.

2 To Me they cry, My God, we—Israel—have known You.

Israel cries out to Me, “O our God, we know You!”

3 Israel has cast off good, an enemy pursues him.

But Israel has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him.

4 They have made kings, and not by Me, They have made princes, and I have not known, Their silver and their gold they have made to them idols, So that they are cut off.

They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction.

5 Your calf has cast off, O Samaria, My anger has burned against them; Until when are they not capable of purity?

He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

6 For even it [is] of Israel; a craftsman made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!

For this thing is from Israel— a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria.

7 For wind they sow, and a windstorm they reap, Stalk it has none—a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield—strangers swallow it up.

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

8 Israel has been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight.

Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel.

9 For they have gone up [to] Asshur, A wild donkey alone by himself [is] Ephraim, They have hired lovers!

For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey on its own. Ephraim has hired lovers.

10 Also though they hire among nations, Now I gather them, and they are pained a little, From the burden of a king of princes.

Though they hire allies among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to diminish under the oppression of the king of princes.

11 Because Ephraim multiplied altars to sin, They have been to him altars to sin.

Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.

12 I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.

Though I wrote for them the great things of My law, they regarded them as something strange.

13 The sacrifices of My offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, YHWH has not accepted them, Now He remembers their iniquity, And inspects their sin, They return [to] Egypt.

Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.

14 And Israel forgets his Maker, and builds temples, And Judah has multiplied cities of defense, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it has consumed their palaces!”

Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has multiplied its fortified cities. But I will send fire upon their cities, and it will consume their citadels.