Hosea 8

1Put the trumpet to your mouth! Like an eagle over the house of Yahweh, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.

2To me they cry, ‘My God, we—Israel—know you!’

3Israel has rejected the good; an enemy will pursue him.

4They made kings, but not from me; they appointed princes, but I did not know it. With their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves, so that they might be cut off.

5He has rejected your calf, O Samaria; my anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

6For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it, and it is not God. Indeed, the calf of Samaria will become splinters.

7For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no head; it will yield no flour. Even if it should yield, strangers will swallow it up.

8Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the nations like a vessel in which there is no delight.

9For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.

10Even though they hire among the nations, now I will gather them; and they will begin to diminish under the burden of the king of princes.

11Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become altars for sinning to him.

12Though I wrote for him the many things of my law, they were regarded as something foreign.

13As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but Yahweh does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they will return to Egypt.

14For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send fire into his cities, and it will consume her citadels.