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.

The Lord Will Punish Israel

9 Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult not like the peoples;

efor you have played the whore, forsaking your God.

fYou have loved a prostitute’s wages

on all threshing floors.

2  gThreshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,

and gthe new wine shall fail them.

3  They shall not remain in hthe land of the Lord,

but iEphraim shall return to Egypt,

and jthey shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

4  kThey shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

land their sacrifices shall not please him.

It shall be like mmourners’ bread to them;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

nit shall not come to the house of the Lord.

5  oWhat will you do on the day of the appointed festival,

and on the day of the feast of the Lord?

6  For behold, they are going away from destruction;

but pEgypt shall gather them;

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess qtheir precious things of silver;

rthorns shall be in their tents.

7  sThe days of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

tThe prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

8  The prophet is uthe watchman of Ephraim with my God;

yet va fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God.

9  wThey have deeply corrupted themselves

as xin the days of Gibeah:

whe will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.

10  Like grapes in the wilderness,

yI found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

But zthey came to Baal-peor

and aconsecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and bbecame detestable like the thing they loved.

11  Ephraim’s cglory shall fly away like a bird—

dno birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

12  eEven if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

fWoe to them

when gI depart from them!

13  Ephraim, has I have seen, was like a young palm1 planted in a meadow;

but eEphraim must lead his children out to slaughter.2

14  Give them, O Lord—

what will you give?

Give them ia miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

15  Every evil of theirs is in jGilgal;

there I began to hate them.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of my house.

I will love them no more;

all ktheir princes are lrebels.

16  Ephraim is stricken;

mtheir root is dried up;

they shall bear no fruit.

Even nthough they give birth,

eI will put their beloved children to death.

17  oMy God will reject them

because they have not listened to him;

pthey shall be wanderers among the nations.

10 qIsrael is a luxuriant vine

that yields its fruit.

The more his fruit increased,

rthe more altars he built;

as his country improved,

he improved his pillars.

2  Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

The Lord1 will break down their altars

and destroy their pillars.

3  For now they will say:

s“We have no king,

for we do not fear the Lord;

and a king—what could he do for us?”

4  They utter tmere words;

with empty2 oaths they make covenants;

so ujudgment springs up like poisonous weeds

vin the furrows of the field.

5  The inhabitants of Samaria tremble

for wthe calf3 of xBeth-aven.

Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—

those who rejoiced over it and yover its glory—

for it has departed4 from them.

6  zThe thing itself shall be carried to Assyria

as tribute to athe great king.5

Ephraim shall be put to shame,

and Israel shall be ashamed bof his idol.6

7  cSamaria’s king shall perish

like a twig on the face of the waters.

8  The high places of xAven, dthe sin of Israel,

shall be destroyed.

eThorn and thistle shall grow up

on their altars,

and fthey shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”

and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

9  From gthe days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;

there they have continued.

Shall not the war against the unjust7 overtake them in Gibeah?

10  hWhen I please, iI will discipline them,

and nations shall be gathered against them

when they are bound up for jtheir double iniquity.

11  Ephraim was a trained calf

that kloved to thresh,

and I spared her fair neck;

but I will put lEphraim to the yoke;

lJudah must plow;

Jacob must harrow for himself.

12  mSow for yourselves righteousness;

reap steadfast love;

nbreak up your fallow ground,

for it is the time to seek the Lord,

that he may come and orain righteousness upon you.

13  pYou have plowed iniquity;

you have reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of lies.

Because you have trusted in your own way

and in the multitude of your warriors,

14  therefore qthe tumult of war shall arise among your people,

and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,

as rShalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;

smothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

15  Thus it shall be done to you, O tBethel,

because of your great evil.

At dawn athe king of Israel

shall be utterly cut off.