Hosea Chapter 8
Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind
1 “Put the bugle to your lips!
A vulture is swooping down on Yahveh’s Temple
because my people have broken my covenant
and disobeyed my Law.
2 Israel pleads with me,
‘We know you; you’re our God!’
3 Israel has rejected what’s good;
so his enemies will chase him.
4 He’s set up kings, but not by me;
he’s appointed officials, but I didn’t know it.
By making idols out of his silver and gold,
he’s gotten himself destroyed.
5 “I’ve rejected your calf, Samaria, and said,
‘My anger burns against you!
How long will you not be capable of innocence?
6 Even that calf originated from Israel!
A workman made it, so it’s not God;
Samaria’s calf will certainly be smashed.
Hos 8:1-6
7 “You’ve sown the wind;
you’ll reap the whirlwind.
Your standing grain has no heads;
it won’t yield any grain.
If it did, foreigners would eat it.
8 Israel has been swallowed up;
among the nations
he’s like a pot nobody cares about.
9 He’s gone up to Assyria
like a wild donkey all alone;
Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 Even though he’s hired other nations as allies,
I’ll gather him up for judgment.
He won’t be appointing
his own kings and officials for a while.
Hos 8:7-10
11 “Ephraim has multiplied altars to remove sin,
but they’re altars for him to sin with.
12 Though I wrote 10,000 laws for him,
he considers them something foreign.
13 The people offer the meat of my sacrifices and eat it,
but Yahveh doesn’t delight in them.
He’ll remember their iniquity
and punish them for their sins.
They’ll go back to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;
Judah has multiplied fortified towns.
But I’ll set their towns afire
and burn their fortresses.”
Hos 8:11-14