Hosea 8

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8Set ^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.

²To me they cry,

^h“My God, we—Israel—know you.”

³Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴ⁱThey 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.

^5kI have¹ spurned your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

^lHow long will they be incapable of innocence?

⁶For it is from Israel;

a craftsman made it;

it is not God.

^kThe calf of Samaria

^mshall be broken to pieces.²

⁷For 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.

^8pIsrael is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

as ^qa useless vessel.

⁹For ^rthey have gone up to Assyria,

^sa wild donkey wandering alone;

Ephraim has hired lovers.

¹⁰Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And ^tthe king and princes ^ushall soon writhe

because of the tribute.

¹¹Because Ephraim ^vhas multiplied altars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning.

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

they would be regarded as a strange thing.

¹³As 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.

¹⁴For ^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.