Hosea 8

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

1  Set a the trumpet to your lips!
One b like a vulture is over the house of the  Lord,
because c they have transgressed my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
 2 To me they cry,
d “My God, we—Israel—know you.”
 3 Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy shall pursue him.
 4  e They made kings, f 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  g I have ▼
▼ Hebrew He has
 spurned your calf, O Samaria.
My anger burns against them.
i How long will they be incapable of innocence?
 6 For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
it is not God.
j The calf of Samaria
k shall be broken to pieces. ▼
▼ Or  shall go up in flames

 7  For m 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,
n strangers would devour it.
 8  o Israel is swallowed up;
already they are among the nations
as p a useless vessel.
 9 For q they have gone up to Assyria,
r a wild donkey wandering alone;
Ephraim has hired lovers.
 10 Though they hire allies among the nations,
I will soon gather them up.
And s the king and princes t shall soon writhe
because of the tribute.
 11  Because Ephraim u has multiplied altars for sinning,
they have become to him altars for sinning.
 12  v 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,
w they sacrifice meat and eat it,
but the  Lord does not accept them.
x Now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins;
y they shall return to Egypt.
 14 For z Israel has forgotten aa his Maker
and ab built palaces,
and ac Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
so ad I will send a fire upon his cities,
and it shall devour her strongholds.
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