Hosea 8

1Put the ram’s horn to your lips! One like an eagle is over the house of Yahweh, because they have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.

2Israel cries out to me, “My God, we know you!”

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

4They made kings, but not through me; they set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves, only to be cut off.

5Your calf is rejected, Samaria! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

6For it is from Israel! A craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.

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 did yield, foreigners would swallow it up.

8Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the nations like a vessel no one wants.

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

10Even though they hire allies among the nations, I will now gather them up, and they will soon begin to waste away under the burden of the king of princes.

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

12Though I write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they are regarded as something foreign.

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

14Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities. But I will send fire on his cities, and it will devour their strongholds.