Hosea 8

Israel Rejects the Good

¹Put to your lips the trumpet

like a vulture over the house of Yahweh,

because they have broken my covenant

²They cry out to me,

³Israel has spurned the good;

⁴They appointed kings, but not through me;

With their silver and gold

⁵Your calf is rejected, O Samaria;[#Hebrew “he rejects” or “has rejected you”]

How long will they be incapable of innocence?

an artisan made it,

for the calf of Samaria

⁷Because they sow the wind,

The standing grain does not have heads;

And if it would yield,

⁸Israel is swallowed up;

⁹For they have gone up to Assyria,

¹⁰Even though they have sold themselves to the nations,

They will soon writhe

¹¹When Ephraim multiplied altars

¹²I write for him myriads of my instruction;[#Or “my law”]

¹³They offer sacrifices of my choice[#Hebrew uncertain; or “loved ones”]

Now he will remember their iniquity

they will return to Egypt.

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;