Hosea 8

1 Put the horn to your mouth! An eagle swoops down upon the house of the Lord because they have transgressed my covenant, trespassed against my law.

“To your mouth—a horn, As an eagle against the house of YHWH, Because they transgressed My covenant, And against My law they have rebelled.

2 To me they continually cry, ‘My God, we Israel, we know you!’

To Me they cry, My God, we—Israel—have known You.

3 But Israel has spurned that which is good, so let the foe pursue him.

Israel has cast off good, an enemy pursues him.

4 They themselves have made kings but without my consent. They have made princes but without my knowledge. Out of their silver and gold, they have made idols to their destruction!

They have made kings, and not by Me, They have made princes, and I have not known, Their silver and their gold they have made to them idols, So that they are cut off.

5 Your calf idol, O Samaria, is distasteful. My anger is kindled against them. How long will they escape punishment?

Your calf has cast off, O Samaria, My anger has burned against them; Until when are they not capable of purity?

6 Israel made the thing: a workman made it. It is not a god! Samaria’s calf will become mere splinters.

For even it [is] of Israel; a craftsman made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!

7 They sow the wind and will reap the whirlwind. A shoot which has no stalk, yields no fruit If it should yield, strangers would devour it.

For wind they sow, and a windstorm they reap, Stalk it has none—a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield—strangers swallow it up.

8 Israel is devoured. Already it lies discarded among the nations like a worthless pot.

Israel has been swallowed up, Now they have been among nations, As a vessel in which is no delight.

9 For by themselves they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey which wanders by itself. Ephraim pays for love

For they have gone up [to] Asshur, A wild donkey alone by himself [is] Ephraim, They have hired lovers!

10 but even if they sell themselves among the nations, I will round them up. Soon the kings and princes will writhe under the burden of tribute!

Also though they hire among nations, Now I gather them, and they are pained a little, From the burden of a king of princes.

11 For as many altars as Ephraim has erected, they are to him altars for sinning,

Because Ephraim multiplied altars to sin, They have been to him altars to sin.

12 were I to write for him ever so many instructions, they would be regarded as from a stranger.

I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.

13 The people love sacrifice, and so they offer sacrifices, meat, and so they eat it, although the Lord is not pleased with them, so now he will remember their guilt, and punish their sins. Back to Egypt with them!

The sacrifices of My offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, YHWH has not accepted them, Now He remembers their iniquity, And inspects their sin, They return [to] Egypt.

14 For Israel forgot his Maker and built palaces, and Judah multiplied fortified cities. But I will send fire upon her cities, and it will devour her strongholds.

And Israel forgets his Maker, and builds temples, And Judah has multiplied cities of defense, And I have sent a fire into his cities, And it has consumed their palaces!”