Hosea 8:4-14 ▼

4 They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction.

5 He has rejected your calf (calf idol), O Samaria (watch mountain). My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

6 For this thing is from Israel (he wrestles with God)—a craftsman made it, and it is not God {Elohim}. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria (watch mountain).

7 For they sow the wind {ruach}, and they shall reap the whirlwind (honeycomb / overflow). There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

8 Israel (he wrestles with God) is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria (a step) like a wild donkey on its own. Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) has hired lovers.

10 Though they hire allies among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to diminish under the oppression (burden) of the king of princes.

11 Though Ephraim (doubly fruitful) multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.

12 Though I wrote for them the great things of My law, they regarded them as something strange.

13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD {YHWH} does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt (land of bondage).

14 Israel (he wrestles with God) has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah (praised) has multiplied its fortified cities. But I will send fire upon their cities, and it will consume their citadels.