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.
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 My Israeli people cry out to me, ‘Our God, we know that you are our God!’
Israel cries out to Me, “O our God, we know You!”
3 But because the Israeli people have rejected what is good, their enemies will pursue them.
But Israel has rejected good; an enemy will 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 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 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 rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of 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 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 [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. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would 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! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel.
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 on its own. 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.
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 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.
Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars 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.
Though I wrote for them the great things of My law, they regarded them as something strange.
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.
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 [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.”
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.
