HOSEA 8 (NIV)
- "Put the trumpet to your lips! An ealge is over the house of the LORD because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.
- Israel cries out to me, 'O our God, we acknowledge you!'
- But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him.
- They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.
- Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity?
- They are from Israel! This calf - a craftsman has made it; it is not God. It will be broken in pieces, that calf of Samaria.
- "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.
- Israel is swallowed up; now she is among the nations like a worthless thing.
- For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
- Although they have sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them together. They will begin to waste away under the oppression of the mighty king.
- "Though Epharaim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning.
- I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something alien.
- They offer sacrifices given to me and they eat the meat, but the LORD is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.
- Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire upon their cities that will consume their fortresses."
