Hosea 8
1 'Unto thy mouth — a trumpet, As an eagle against the house of Jehovah, Because they transgressed My covenant, And against My law they have rebelled.
Put a trumpet to your lips! An eagle swoops over the house of the Lord because they have broken my agreement and rebelled against my law.
2 To Me they cry, 'My God, we — Israel — have known Thee.'
Israel calls out to me, “Our God, we know you!”
3 Cast off good hath Israel, an enemy pursueth him.
But Israel has rejected what is good. An enemy will chase after them.
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 appointed kings without my consent and chose princes without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.
5 Cast off hath thy calf, O Samaria, Burned hath Mine anger against them, Till when are they not capable of purity?
Samaria, I reject this calf idol you have made! My anger burns against them! How long will you be incapable of being good?
6 For even it [is] of Israel; an artificer made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!
This idol is from Israel! A craftsman made it—it's not God! The calf of Samaria will be broken in pieces!
7 For wind they sow, and a hurricane they reap, Stalk it hath none — a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield — strangers do swallow it up.
Those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head of grain; it will produce no flour. Even if it did produce grain, foreigners would swallow it all up.
8 Israel hath been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight.
Israel is swallowed up; among the nations they are like something nobody wants.
9 For they — they have gone up [to] Asshur, A wild ass alone by himself [is] Ephraim, They have hired lovers!
They have gone up to Assyria like a donkey wandering alone. 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.
Even though they have hired allies among the nations, I will gather them together. Then they will writhe under the burden of the great king.
11 Because Ephraim did multiply altars to sin, They have been to him altars to sin.
Though Ephraim built many altars to make sin offerings, they instead became altars of sin!
12 I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.
I wrote down for them the many aspects of my law, but they looked on them as foreign.
13 The sacrifices of Mine offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, Jehovah hath not accepted them, Now doth He remember their iniquity, And inspect their sin, They — [to] Egypt they turn back.
They present me with their sacrifices, and they eat the meat, but I the Lord do not accept them. Now he will remember their wickedness, and punish them for their sins. They will return to Egypt.
14 And forget doth Israel his Maker, and buildeth temples, And Judah hath multiplied cities of defence, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it hath consumed their palaces!
Israel has forgotten his maker, and built palaces; Judah has built many fortified cities. But I will rain fire down on their cities and burn up their fortresses.
