8:1 Put the trumpet to your ①lips!
Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the LORD,
Because they have violated My covenant
And rebelled against My Law.
▷ ①Lit palate
8:2 They cry out to Me,
“My God, we of Israel know You!”
8:3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
8:4 They have set up kings, but not by Me;
They have appointed officials, but I did not know it.
With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,
So that ①they will be eliminated.
▷ ①Lit he
8:5 ①He has rejected your calf, Samaria, saying,
“My anger burns against them!”
How long will they be incapable of innocence?
▷ ①Or Your calf has rejected you
8:6 For from Israel comes even this!
A craftsman made it, so it is not God;
Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to ①pieces.
▷ ①Or splinters
8:7 For they sow wind
And they harvest a storm.
The standing grain has no ①kernels;
It yields no ②grain.
If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.
▷ ①Lit growth ②Or meal
8:8 Israel has been swallowed up;
They are now among the nations
Like a vessel in which no one delights.
8:9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like a wild donkey all alone;
Ephraim has paid fees for ①lovers.
▷ ①Lit love gifts
8:10 Even though they ①pay for allies among the nations,
I will gather them up now;
And they will begin to diminish
Because of the burden of the king of officials.
▷ ①Or recruit allies
8:11 Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin,
They have become altars of sinning for him.
8:12 Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My Law,
They are regarded as a strange thing.
8:13 As for My sacrificial gifts,
They sacrifice the flesh and eat it,
But the LORD has taken no delight in them.
Now He will remember their guilt,
And punish them for their sins;
They will return to Egypt.
8:14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;
And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,
But I will send a fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.