1Set 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.
2To me they cry,
“My God, we—Israel—know you.”
3Israel has spurned the good;
the enemy shall pursue him.

4They 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.
5I have^a spurned your calf, O Samaria.
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?
6For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
it is not God.
The calf of Samaria
shall be broken to pieces.^b

7For 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.
8Israel is swallowed up;
already they are among the nations
as a useless vessel.
9For they have gone up to Assyria,
a wild donkey wandering alone;
Ephraim has hired lovers.
10Though they hire allies among the nations,
I will soon gather them up.
And the king and princes shall soon writhe
because of the tribute.

11Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,
they have become to him altars for sinning.
12Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,
they would be regarded as a strange thing.
13As 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.
14For 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.