“Put a trumpet to your lips!
    Give a warning to my people!
Assyria is like an eagle.
    It is ready to attack my land.
My people have broken the covenant I made with them.
    They have refused to obey my law.
² Israel shouts to me,
    ‘We recognize you as our God!’
³ But they have turned away from what is good.
    So an enemy will chase them.
⁴ My people appoint kings I do not want.
    They choose princes without my permission.
They use their silver and gold
    to make statues of gods.
    That is how they destroy themselves.”
⁵ The Lord says, “People of Samaria,
    throw out your god that looks like a calf!
    I am very angry with them.
How long will it be until they are able
    to remain faithful to me?
⁶ Their calf is not God.
    A skilled worker from Israel made it.
    But that calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.”

“Worshiping other gods is like worshiping the wind.
    It is like planting worthless seeds.
Assyria is like a windstorm.
    That is all my people will harvest.
There are no heads of grain
    on the stems that will come up.
    So they will not produce any flour.
Even if they did produce grain,
    the Assyrians would eat all of it up.
⁸ So the people of Israel are swallowed up.
    Now they are among the nations
    like something no one wants.
⁹ They have gone up to Assyria for help.
    They are like a wild donkey
    that wanders around by itself.
Ephraim’s people have sold themselves
    to their Assyrian lovers.
¹⁰ They have sold themselves to the nations
    to get their help.
    But now I will gather them together.
They will get weaker and weaker.
    The mighty kings of Assyria will crush them.

¹¹ “Ephraim built many altars where they sacrificed
    sin offerings to other gods.
So their altars have become
    places where they commit sin.
¹² In my law I wrote down many things for their good.
    But they considered those things as something strange.
¹³ They offer sacrifices as gifts to me.
    They eat the meat of the animals they bring.
    But the Lord is not pleased with any of this.
He will remember the evil things they have done.
    He will punish them for their sins.
    And they will return to Egypt.
¹⁴ Israel has forgotten the God who made them.
    They have built palaces for themselves.
    Judah has built forts in many towns.
But I will send down fire on their cities.
    It will burn up their forts.”

⁵ What will you do when your appointed feasts come?
    What will you do on the Lord’s special days?
⁶ Some of you will escape without being destroyed.
    But you will die in Egypt.
    Your bodies will be buried at Memphis.
Weeds will cover your treasures of silver.
    Thorns will grow up in your tents.
⁷ The time when God will punish you is coming.
    The day when he will judge you is near.
    I want Israel to know this.
You have committed many sins.
    And you hate me very much.
That’s why you think the prophet is foolish.
    You think the person the Lord speaks through is crazy.
⁸ People of Ephraim, the prophet, along with my God,
    is warning you of danger.
But you set traps for him everywhere he goes.
    You hate him so much
    you even wait for him in God’s house.
⁹ You have sunk very deep into sin,
    just as your people did at Gibeah long ago.
God will remember the evil things they have done.
    He will punish them for their sins.

“When I first found Israel,
    it was like finding grapes in the desert.
When I saw your people of long ago,
    it was like seeing the early fruit on a fig tree.
But then they went to Baal Peor.
    There they gave themselves to that shameful god named Baal.
    They became as evil as the god they loved.
¹¹ Ephraim’s greatness and glory will be gone.
    It will fly away like a bird.
Women will no longer have children.
    They will not be able to get pregnant.
¹² But suppose they do have children.
    Then I will kill every one of them.
How terrible it will be for them
    when I turn away from them!
¹³ Tyre is planted in a pleasant place.
    And so is Ephraim.
But the Assyrians will kill
    Ephraim’s children.”

¹⁴ Lord, what should you do to Ephraim’s people?
    Give them women whose babies die before they are born.
    Give them women whose breasts have no milk.

“My people did many evil things in Gilgal.
    That is why I hated them there.
They committed many sins.
    So I will drive them out of my land.
I will not love them anymore.
    All their leaders refuse to obey me.
¹⁶ Ephraim is like a worthless plant.
    Its roots are dried up.
    It does not produce any fruit.
Suppose Ephraim’s people have children.
    Then I will kill the children they love so much.”

¹⁷ My God will turn his back on his people.
    They have not obeyed him.
    So they will wander among other nations.

10 Israel was like a spreading vine.
    They produced fruit for themselves.
As they grew more fruit,
    they built more altars.
As their land became richer,
    they made more beautiful the sacred stones they worshiped.
² Their hearts are dishonest.
    So now they must pay for their sins.
The Lord will tear down their altars.
    He’ll destroy their sacred stones.

³ Then they’ll say, “We don’t have a king.
    That’s because we didn’t have
    any respect for the Lord.
But suppose we did have a king.
    What could he do for us?”
⁴ They make a lot of promises.
    They make agreements among themselves.
    They make promises they don’t mean to keep.
So court cases spring up
    like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.
⁵ The people who live in Samaria are filled with fear.
    They are afraid for their god that looks like a calf.
    They’re afraid it will be carried off from Beth Aven, that evil town.
They will mourn over it.
    So will the priests who led them to worship it.
The priests were full of joy
    because their statue was so glorious.
But it will be captured
    and taken far away from them.
⁶ It will be carried off to Assyria.
    The people of Ephraim will be forced
    to give it to the great king.
They will be dishonored.
    Israel will be ashamed
    of its agreements with other nations.
⁷ Samaria’s king will be destroyed.
    He will be like a twig swept away by a river.
⁸ The high places where Israel worshiped other gods
    will be destroyed.
    That’s where they sinned against the Lord.
Thorns and weeds will grow up there.
    They will cover the altars.
Then the people will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
    They’ll say to the hills, “Fall on us!”

“Israel, you have done evil things
    ever since your people sinned at Gibeah long ago.
    And you are still doing what is evil.
War will come again
    to those who sinned at Gibeah.
¹⁰ I will punish them when I want to.
    Nations will gather together to fight against them.
They will put them in chains
    because they have committed so many sins.
¹¹ Ephraim was like a well-trained young cow.
    It loved to thresh grain.
So I will put a yoke
    on its pretty neck.
I will make Ephraim do hard work.
    Judah also must plow.
So all the people of Jacob
    must break up the ground.
¹² Your hearts are as hard as a field
    that has not been plowed.
If you change your ways,
    you will produce good crops.
So plant the seeds of doing what is right.
    Then you will harvest the fruit of your faithful love.
It is time to seek the Lord.
    When you do, he will come
    and shower his blessings on you.
¹³ But you have planted the seeds of doing what is wrong.
    So you have harvested the fruit of your evil conduct.
    You have had to eat the fruit of your lies.
You have trusted in your own strength.
    You have depended on your many soldiers.
¹⁴ But the roar of battle will come against you.
    All your forts will be completely destroyed.
It will happen just as Shalman
    destroyed Beth Arbel in a battle.
Mothers and their children
    were smashed on the ground.
¹⁵ People of Bethel, that will happen to you.
    You have committed far too many sins.
When the time comes for me to punish you,
    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.”