Hosea 8

Lexham English Bible

8 Put to your lips the trumpet
like a vulture over the house of Yahweh,
because they have broken my covenant^[a]
    and rebelled against my law.
² They cry out to me,
    “My God! We, Israel, know you!”
³ Israel has spurned the good;
    the enemy will pursue him.
⁴ They appointed kings, but not through me;
    they made officials, but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold
    they made idols for themselves
        for their^[b] own destruction.^[c]
5 Your calf is rejected,^[d] O Samaria;
    my anger burns against them.
How long^[e] will they be incapable of innocence?
⁶     Because it is from Israel,
an artisan made it,
    it is not a god;
for the calf of Samaria
    will be broken to pieces.
⁷ Because they sow the wind,
    they will reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain does not have heads;^[f]
    it will not yield flour.
And if it would yield,
    strangers would devour it.
⁸ Israel is swallowed up;
    now they are among the nations,
        like an object that no one desires.
⁹ For they have gone up to Assyria,
    a wild donkey alone to itself;
        Ephraim has sold itself for lovers.
¹⁰ Even though they have sold themselves to the nations,
    now I will gather them.
They will soon writhe
    from the burden of kings^[g] and princes.
¹¹ When Ephraim multiplied altars
    to expiate sins,
        they became to him altars to sin on.
¹² I write for him myriads of my instruction;^[h]
    they are regarded as a strange thing.
¹³ They offer sacrifices of my choice^[i]
    and they eat flesh;
        Yahweh does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins;
they will return to Egypt.
¹⁴     Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
    but I will send fire on his cities
    and it will devour her strongholds.