Hosea 8

¹Set the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he cometh against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. ²They shall cry unto me, My God, we Israel know thee. ³Israel hath cast off that which is good: the enemy shall pursue him. ⁴They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. ⁵He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? ⁶For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God; yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. ⁷For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: he hath no standing grain; the blade shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.

⁸Israel is swallowed up: now are they among the nations as a vessel wherein none delighteth. ⁹For they are gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers. ¹⁰Yea, though they hire among the nations, now will I gather them; and they begin to be diminished by reason of the burden of the king of princes.

¹¹Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars for sinning, altars have been unto him for sinning. ¹²I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law; but they are counted as a strange thing. ¹³As for the sacrifices of mine offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but Jehovah accepteth them not: now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt. ¹⁴For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and builded palaces; and Judah hath multiplied fortified cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the castles thereof.