Hos 8 | HCSB | STEP | Put the horn to your mouth ! One like an eagle comes against the house of the Lord , because they transgress My covenant and rebel against My law .

‏ Hosea 8

Israel’s False Hopes

1 Put the horn to your mouth! ^a
One like an eagle comes
against the house of the Lord, ^b
because they transgress My covenant ^c
and rebel against My law. ^d
2 Israel cries out to Me, ^e
“My God, we know You!”
3 Israel has rejected what is good; ^f
an enemy will pursue him.

4 They have installed kings, ^g
but not through Me.
They have appointed leaders,
but without My approval.
They make their silver and gold ^h
into idols for themselves
for their own destruction. ^{▼▼Lit themselves that it might be cut off}
5 Your calf-idol ^{▼▼Lit calf
,} ^k is rejected, Samaria. ^l
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence? ^m
6 For this thing is from Israel –
a craftsman made it, ⁿ and it is not God.
The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!

7 Indeed, they sow the wind ^o
and reap the whirlwind. ^p
There is no standing grain;
what sprouts fails to yield flour. ^q
Even if they did,
foreigners would swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up! ^r
Now they are among the nations
like discarded pottery. ^s
9 For they have gone up to Assyria ^t
like a wild donkey going off on its own.
Ephraim has paid for love. ^u
10 Even though they hire lovers among the nations,
I will now round them up,
and they will begin to decrease in number ^v
under the burden of the king and leaders. ^w

11 When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin, ^x
they became his altars for sinning.
12 Though I were to write out for him
ten thousand points of My instruction, ^y
they would be ^{▼▼Or Though I wrote out . . . instruction, they are} regarded as something strange.
13 Though they offer sacrificial gifts ^{▼▼Hb obscure
,} ^ab
and eat the flesh, ^ac
the Lord does not accept them.
Now He will remember their ^{▼▼guilt/guilty: The liability to be punished for a fault, a sin, an act, or an omission unless there is forgiveness or atonement; the term normally concerns an objective fact, not a subjective feeling.}guilt ^ae
and punish their sins; ^af
they will return to Egypt. ^ag
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker ^ah and built palaces; ^ai
Judah has also multiplied fortified cities.
I will send fire on their cities, ^aj
and it will consume their citadels.