Hosea 8

The covenant broken

1Put the ram’s horn to your lips!
Like an eagle, one comes against the house of the LORD,
because they have broken my covenant
and rebelled against my instruction. 2They cry to me,
‘My God, we in Israel know you!’ 3Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him. 4They appointed kings without me;
they set up rulers without my acknowledgment.
From their silver and gold they made idols for themselves,
only to be cut off. 5Your calf is rejected, Samaria!
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6It comes from Israel: a craftsman made it;
it is no god.
Samaria’s calf will become splinters. 7They sow wind and harvest a whirlwind.
The stalk has no standing grain;
the shoot produces no flour.
Even if it did, foreigners would swallow it. 8Israel has been swallowed up.
Now among the nations
they are a vessel no one wants. 9They have gone up to Assyria,
a wild donkey off on its own.
Ephraim has hired lovers. 10Though they hire among the nations,
now I will gather them.
They will soon begin to suffer
under the burden of the king of rulers. 11Ephraim multiplied altars for sin;
they became altars for sinning. 12Were I to write my instruction for him in countless provisions,
they would be regarded as something foreign. 13As for my sacrificial gifts,
they sacrifice meat and eat it,
but the LORD does not accept them.
Now he will remember their guilt and punish their sins.
They will return to Egypt. 14Israel forgot his Maker and built palaces;
Judah multiplied fortified cities.
I will send fire into his cities,
and it will consume her citadels.”