Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8 Set ethe trumpet to your lips!

One flike a vulture is over the house of the Lord,

because gthey have transgressed my covenant

and rebelled against my law.

2  To me they cry,

h“My God, we—Israel—know you.”

3  Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

4  iThey made kings, jbut not through me.

They set up princes, but I knew it not.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.

5  kI have1 spurned your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

lHow long will they be incapable of innocence?

6  For it is from Israel;

a craftsman made it;

it is not God.

kThe calf of Samaria

mshall be broken to pieces.2

7  For nthey sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no flour;

if it were to yield,

ostrangers would devour it.

8  pIsrael is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

as qa useless vessel.

9  For rthey have gone up to Assyria,

sa wild donkey wandering alone;

Ephraim has hired lovers.

10  Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And tthe king and princes ushall soon writhe

because of the tribute.

11  Because Ephraim vhas multiplied altars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning.

12  wWere I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,

they would be regarded as a strange thing.

13  As for my sacrificial offerings,

xthey sacrifice meat and eat it,

but the Lord does not accept them.

yNow he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

zthey shall return to Egypt.

14  For aIsrael has forgotten bhis Maker

and cbuilt palaces,

and aJudah has multiplied fortified cities;

so dI will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour her strongholds.