Hosea 8
1 Put the trumpet to thy mouth! Like an eagle cometh an enemy against the house of Jehovah, Because they have transgressed my covenant, And have rebelled against my law.
Put the horn to your mouth! An eagle swoops down upon the house of the Lord because they have transgressed my covenant, trespassed against my law.
2 They shall say to me, My God, we know thee, we, thine Israel!
To me they continually cry, ‘My God, we Israel, we know you!’
3 Israel hath cast away what is good; The enemy shall pursue him.
But Israel has spurned that which is good, so let the foe pursue him.
4 They have set up kings, but not by me; They have made princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made themselves idols, That they may be brought to destruction.
They themselves have made kings but without my consent. They have made princes but without my knowledge. Out of their silver and gold, they have made idols to their destruction!
5 An abomination is thy calf, O Samaria! Mine anger is kindled against them; How long will it be ere they can attain to purity!
Your calf idol, O Samaria, is distasteful. My anger is kindled against them. How long will they escape punishment?
6 For from Israel it came; The workman made it, and it is no God; Yea, into fragments shall the calf of Samaria be broken.
Israel made the thing: a workman made it. It is not a god! Samaria’s calf will become mere splinters.
7 They have sown the wind, And they shall reap the whirlwind. They shall have no standing harvest; The ear shall yield no meal; If perchance it yield, strangers shall devour it.
They sow the wind and will reap the whirlwind. A shoot which has no stalk, yields no fruit If it should yield, strangers would devour it.
8 Israel is swallowed up; Soon shall they become among the nations As a vessel which no one desireth.
Israel is devoured. Already it lies discarded among the nations like a worthless pot.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a solitary wild-ass; Ephraim hireth lovers;
For by themselves they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey which wanders by itself. Ephraim pays for love
10 But though they hire among the nations, Soon will I gather the nations against them; Then shall they rest a little while from the burden of their king, and their princes!
but even if they sell themselves among the nations, I will round them up. Soon the kings and princes will writhe under the burden of tribute!
11 Ephraim hath built many altars for sin, Therefore shall he have altars for sin.
For as many altars as Ephraim has erected, they are to him altars for sinning,
12 Though I write for him many laws, They are accounted as a strange thing;
were I to write for him ever so many instructions, they would be regarded as from a stranger.
13 As to the sacrifices which they should offer me, they slay flesh and eat it; Jehovah hath no pleasure in them. Now will he remember their iniquity, And punish their sins; To Egypt shall they return.
The people love sacrifice, and so they offer sacrifices, meat, and so they eat it, although the Lord is not pleased with them, so now he will remember their guilt, and punish their sins. Back to Egypt with them!
14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and builded palaces, And Judah hath multiplied fenced cities; But I will send a fire upon his cities, And it shall devour his palaces.
For Israel forgot his Maker and built palaces, and Judah multiplied fortified cities. But I will send fire upon her cities, and it will devour her strongholds.
