Hosea 8
1 Put the trumpet to thy mouth! Like an eagle cometh an enemy against the house of Jehovah, Because they have transgressed my covenant, And have rebelled against my law.
[Yahweh said to me], “Blow [MTY] your trumpet [to warn the people]! My people have rejected the agreement that I made with them, and they have rebelled against [obeying] my laws. Therefore, [their enemies] are swooping down on my people’s country like [SIM] an eagle.
2 They shall say to me, My God, we know thee, we, thine Israel!
My Israeli people cry out to me, ‘Our God, we know that you are our God!’
3 Israel hath cast away what is good; The enemy shall pursue him.
But because the Israeli people have rejected what is good, their enemies will pursue them.
4 They have set up kings, but not by me; They have made princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made themselves idols, That they may be brought to destruction.
The Israel people appointed [their last three] kings, but they did not ask me if I agreed to [what they were doing]. They chose their own leaders without asking if I would approve of them. They used their own silver and gold to make for themselves idols, and doing that led them to be destroyed.
5 An abomination is thy calf, O Samaria! Mine anger is kindled against them; How long will it be ere they can attain to purity!
You people of Samaria, throw away your [idol that resembles a] calf! I am extremely angry with you people! How long [RHQ] will you [do things that cause] you to be unacceptable to me?
6 For from Israel it came; The workman made it, and it is no God; Yea, into fragments shall the calf of Samaria be broken.
[Someone in] Israel made that idol for you; [but I am] God and it is not. So that idol of a calf in Samaria must be smashed to pieces.
7 They have sown the wind, And they shall reap the whirlwind. They shall have no standing harvest; The ear shall yield no meal; If perchance it yield, strangers shall devour it.
[The foolish thing that the people of Israel have done is like] [MET] trying to plant wind; but what they harvest will be like [MET] a whirlwind. So the grain that they planted will have no heads [on the stalks], and as a result [there will be no grain] from which to make flour. And if it did produce good grain, foreigners would [come and] steal it.
8 Israel is swallowed up; Soon shall they become among the nations As a vessel which no one desireth.
[The people of] Israel will be defeated [MET] [by their enemies]; they will be [scattered] among other nations and become worthless.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a solitary wild-ass; Ephraim hireth lovers;
Like [MET] donkeys that are looking for mates, they have requested [help] from Assyria; they paid money to [the leaders of Assyria] in order to [persuade those leaders to] protect them.
10 But though they hire among the nations, Soon will I gather the nations against them; Then shall they rest a little while from the burden of their king, and their princes!
But although they have agreed to pay money each year to [the leaders of] those countries, I will soon gather them together [to punish them]. The great King [of Assyria] will cause them to suffer greatly.
11 Ephraim hath built many altars for sin, Therefore shall he have altars for sin.
Although [the people of] Israel built many altars to present offerings [to their idols] to take away [their guilt for] sinning, those altars have become places where they commit [more] sins.
12 Though I write for him many laws, They are accounted as a strange thing;
I wrote many laws for them, but they disregarded them, saying that [they did not have to obey them because] they were different from laws that they had known previously.
13 As to the sacrifices which they should offer me, they slay flesh and eat it; Jehovah hath no pleasure in them. Now will he remember their iniquity, And punish their sins; To Egypt shall they return.
They offer sacrifices to me, and they eat [some of] the meat of those sacrifices, [which is what I permitted them to do]. But I, Yahweh, am not pleased with those sacrifices. I remember the evil things that they have done, and I will punish them for the sins that they have committed: I will force them to [go to other countries] [and become slaves like they were] [MET] in Egypt.
14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and builded palaces, And Judah hath multiplied fenced cities; But I will send a fire upon his cities, And it shall devour his palaces.
[The people of] Israel have abandoned/forgotten me, the one who created their [nation]; they have built palaces, and [the people of] Judah have built walls around many towns. But I will send a fire that will destroy all their cities and their fortresses.”
