Israel’s False Hopes

8 Put 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

2 Israel cries out to Me, j

“My God, we know You!”

3 Israel has rejected what is good; k

an enemy will pursue him.

4 They 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

5 Your calf-idol o p is rejected, Samaria. q

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence? r

6 For this thing is from Israel—

a craftsman made it, s and it is not God.

The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!

7 Indeed, 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.

8 Israel is swallowed up! w

Now they are among the nations

like discarded pottery. x

9 For they have gone up to Assyria y

like a wild donkey going off on its own.

Ephraim has paid for love. z

10 Even 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

11 When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin, c

they became his altars for sinning.

12 Though I were to write out for him

ten thousand points of My instruction, d

they would be e regarded as something strange.

13 Though they offer sacrificial gifts f g

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

14 Israel has forgotten his Maker l and built palaces; m

Judah has also multiplied fortified cities.

I will send fire on their cities, n

and it will consume their citadels.