Hosea 8

Israel’s False Hopes

8Put the horn to your mouth! ^f

One like an eagle comes

against the house of the Lord, ^g

because they transgress My covenant ^h

and rebel against My law. ⁱ

²Israel cries out to Me, ^j

“My God, we know You!”

³Israel has rejected what is good; ^k

an enemy will pursue him.

⁴They have installed kings, ^l

but not through Me.

They have appointed leaders,

but without My approval.

They make their silver and gold ^m

into idols for themselves

for their own destruction. ⁿ

⁵Your calf-idol ^opis rejected, Samaria. ^q

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence? ^r

⁶For this thing is from Israel—

a craftsman made it, ^sand it is not God.

The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!

⁷Indeed, they sow the wind ^t

and reap the whirlwind. ^u

There is no standing grain;

what sprouts fails to yield flour. ^v

Even if they did,

foreigners would swallow it up.

⁸Israel is swallowed up! ^w

Now they are among the nations

like discarded pottery. ^x

⁹For they have gone up to Assyria ^y

like a wild donkey going off on its own.

Ephraim has paid for love. ^z

¹⁰Even though they hire lovers among the nations,

I will now round them up,

and they will begin to decrease in number ^a

under the burden of the king and leaders. ^b

¹¹When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin, ^c

they became his altars for sinning.

¹²Though I were to write out for him

ten thousand points of My instruction, ^d

they would be ^eregarded as something strange.

¹³Though they offer sacrificial gifts ^fg

and eat the flesh, ^h

the Lord does not accept them.

Now He will remember their guilt ⁱ

and punish their sins; ^j

they will return to Egypt. ^k

¹⁴Israel has forgotten his Maker ^land built palaces; ^m

Judah has also multiplied fortified cities.

I will send fire on their cities, ⁿ

and it will consume their citadels.