Hosea 8
1 Sound the trumpet! An eagle is over the house of the LORD, because they have broken my covenant and rebelled against my Law.
2 They cry to me, “My God, we, Israel, know you!”
3 Israel has rejected what is good; the enemy will pursue him.
4 They appointed kings, but not with my consent; they set up leaders, and I did not know it. With their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, so that they might be destroyed.
5 Your calf is rejected, Samaria; my anger burns against them. How long will they be unable to remain innocent?
6 For it came from Israel: a craftsman made it, and it is no god. The calf of Samaria will be shattered into splinters.
7 For they sow the wind and will reap a storm. There is no standing grain; the sprout yields no flour. And if it does yield any, foreigners will swallow it.
8 Israel has been swallowed up; now they are among the nations like an object no one wants.
9 For they went up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim paid for lovers.
10 Even if they pay among the nations, now I will gather them; and they have begun to waste away under the burden of the king of princes.
11 For Ephraim multiplied altars for sin; the altars became an occasion for him to sin.
12 I write for him the many instructions of my Law, but they were regarded as something strange.
13 They sacrifice meat from my offerings and eat it, but the LORD has not accepted them. Now he will remember their guilt and punish their sins: they will return to Egypt.
14 Israel forgot his Maker and built temples; Judah multiplied fortified cities. But I will send fire against his cities, and it will devour their palaces.
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