Hosea 8
Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind
[1] Set the trumpet to your lips!
One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD,
because they have transgressed my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
[2] To me they cry,
“My God, we—Israel—know you.”
[3] Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy shall pursue him.
[4] They made kings, but not through me.
They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
for their own destruction.
[5] I have spurned your calf, O Samaria.
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?
[6] For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
it is not God.
The calf of Samaria
shall be broken to pieces.
[7] For they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
strangers would devour it.
[8] Israel is swallowed up;
already they are among the nations
as a useless vessel.
[9] For they have gone up to Assyria,
a wild donkey wandering alone;
Ephraim has hired lovers.
[10] Though they hire allies among the nations,
I will soon gather them up.
And the king and princes shall soon writhe
because of the tribute.
[11] Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,
they have become to him altars for sinning.
[12] Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,
they would be regarded as a strange thing.
[13] As for my sacrificial offerings,
they sacrifice meat and eat it,
but the LORD does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins;
they shall return to Egypt.
[14] For Israel has forgotten his Maker
and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
so I will send a fire upon his cities,
and it shall devour her strongholds. (ESV)
