| 1 | Set the trumpet to your lips! [The enemy] comes as a [great] vulture against the house of the Lord, because they have broken My covenant and transgressed against My law. |
| 2 | Then they will cry to Me, My God, we [of Israel] know You! |
| 3 | Israel has rejected the good [with loathing]; the enemy shall pursue him. |
| 4 | They set up kings, but not from Me [therefore without My blessing]; they have made princes or removed them [without consulting Me; therefore], I knew
and
recognized [them] not. With their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves, that they [the silver and the gold] may be destroyed. |
| 5 | Your calf [idol], O Samaria, is loathsome
and
I have spurned it. My wrath burns against them. How long will it be before they attain purity? |
| 6 | For this [calf] too is from Israel; a craftsman made it; therefore it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to shivers
and
go up in flames. |
| 7 | For they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, strangers
and
aliens would eat it up. |
| 8 | Israel is [as if] swallowed up. Already they have become among the nations as a vessel [of cheap, coarse pottery] that is useless. |
| 9 | For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass taking her own way by herself; Ephraim has hired lovers. |
| 10 | Yes, though with presents they hire [allies] among the nations, now will I gather them up, and in a little while they will sorrow
and
begin to diminish [their gifts] because of the burden (tribute) imposed by the king of princes [the king of Assyria]. |
| 11 | For Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning; yes, to him altars are intended for sinning. |
| 12 | I wrote for him the ten thousand things of My law, but they are counted as a strange thing [as something which does not concern him]. |
| 13 | My sacrificial gifts they sacrifice [as a mere form]; yes, they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now He will [earnestly] remember their guilt
and
iniquity and will punish their sins. They shall return to [another] Egypt [Assyria]. |
| 14 | For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces
and
idol temples, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities and it shall devour his palaces
and
fortified buildings. |
Cross references:
-
Hosea 8:13 : Deut. 28:68.
-
Hosea 8:14 : Amos 1:4, 7, 10, 12, 14; 2:2, 5.
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