Hosea 8 / 14
- 1
(Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind)
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.