[1] Put the ram's 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. [2] Israel cries out to me, "My God, we know you!" [3] Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. [4] They have installed kings, but not through me. They have appointed leaders, but without my approval. They make their silver and gold into idols for themselves for their own destruction. [5] Your calf-idol is rejected, Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? [6] For this thing is from Israel- a craftsman made it, and it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits! [7] Indeed, they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if they did, foreigners would swallow it up. [8] Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like discarded pottery. [9] For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey going off on its own. Ephraim has paid for love. [10] Even though they hire lovers among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to decrease in number under the burden of the king and leaders. [11] When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning. [12] Though I were to write out for him ten thousand points of my instruction, they would be regarded as something strange. [13] Though they offer sacrificial gifts and eat the flesh, the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their guilt and punish their sins; they will return to Egypt. [14] Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has also multiplied fortified cities. I will send fire on their cities, and it will consume their citadels.
