[8:1] Set 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.
[8:2] To me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.”
[8:3] Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him.
[8:4] They 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.
[8:5] I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?
[8:6] For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
[8:7] For 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.
[8:8] Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel.
[8:9] For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.
[8:10] Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute.
[8:11] Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning.
[8:12] Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.
[8:13] As 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.
[8:14] For 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.