Hosea 8:1-10 ▼

1 Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the LORD! For they have broken their covenant with me, and have rebelled against my law.

2 Israel cries out to me, |My God, we acknowledge you!|

3 But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him.

4 They enthroned kings without my consent! They appointed princes without my approval! They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed!

5 O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol! My anger burns against them! They will not survive much longer without being punished, even though they are Israelites!

6 That idol was made by a workman--it is not God! The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.

7 They sow the wind, and so they will reap the whirlwind! The stalk does not have any standing grain; it will not produce any flour. Even if it were to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it all up.

8 Israel will be swallowed up among the nations; they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.

9 They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers.

10 Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, I will soon gather them together for judgment. Then they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king.