Hosea 8
1 [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.
Set the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he comes against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
2 My Israeli people cry out to me, ‘Our God, we know that you are our God!’
They shall cry to me, My God, we, Israel know thee.
3 But because the Israeli people have rejected what is good, their enemies will pursue them.
Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy shall pursue him.
4 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.
They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made rulers, and I knew it not. They have made themselves idols of their silver and their gold, that they may be cut off.
5 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?
He has cast off thy calf, O Samaria. My anger is kindled against them. How long will it be ere they attain to innocence?
6 [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.
For even this is from Israel: the workman made it, and it is no God. Yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
7 [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.
For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The blade shall yield no meal. If so be it yields, strangers shall swallow it up.
8 [The people of] Israel will be defeated [MET] [by their enemies]; they will be [scattered] among other nations and become worthless.
Israel is swallowed up. They are now among the nations as a vessel in which no man delights.
9 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.
For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey alone by himself. Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 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.
Yea, though they hire among the nations, I will now gather them, and they shall begin to be diminished because of the burden of the king of rulers.
11 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.
Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, altars have been to him for sinning.
12 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.
I wrote for him the multitude of my law, but they are counted as a strange thing.
13 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.
As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but Jehovah does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. They shall return to Egypt.
14 [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.”
For Israel has forgotten his maker, and built palaces. And Judah has multiplied fortified cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the castles thereof.
