8
The Apostasy of Israel
1“Set the trumpet to your mouth!
He shall come⚓like an eagle against the house of the Lord,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
2⚓Israel will cry to Me,
‘My God, ⚓we know You!’
3Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4“They⚓ set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold
They made idols for themselves—
That they might be cut off.
5Your calf is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
⚓How long until they attain to innocence?
6For from Israel is even this:
A ⚓workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
7“They⚓ sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
⚓Aliens would swallow it up.
8⚓Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
⚓Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like⚓a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim ⚓has hired lovers.
10Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now ⚓I will gather them;
And they shall sorrow a little,
Because of the burden of ⚓the king of princes.
11“Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
12I have written for him ⚓the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
13For the sacrifices of My offerings ⚓they sacrifice flesh 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.
14“For⚓ Israel has forgotten ⚓his Maker,
And has built temples;
Judah also has multiplied ⚓fortified cities;
But ⚓I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his palaces.”