8  Set the trumpet to your lips!

One ^alike a vulture is over the house of the Lord,

because they have transgressed my covenant

and rebelled against my law.

2  To me they cry,

“My God, we—Israel—^bknow you.”

3  Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

4  They made kings, but not through me.

They set up princes, but I knew it not.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.

5  I have¹ spurned your ^ccalf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence?

6  For it is from Israel;

a ^dcraftsman made it;

it is not God.

The calf of Samaria

shall be broken to pieces.²

7  For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no flour;

if it were to yield,

strangers would devour it.

8  Israel is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

^eas a useless vessel.

9  For they have ^fgone up to Assyria,

a ^gwild donkey wandering alone;

Ephraim has hired ^hlovers.

10  Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And the king and princes shall soon writhe

because of the tribute.

11  Because Ephraim has multiplied ⁱaltars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning.

12  Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,

they would be regarded as a strange thing.

13  As for my sacrificial offerings,

they sacrifice meat and eat it,

but ^jthe Lord does not accept them.

Now he will ^kremember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

^lthey shall return to Egypt.

14  For Israel has ^mforgotten his Maker

and built palaces,

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;

so ⁿI will send a fire upon his cities,

^oand it shall devour her strongholds.

9  Rejoice not, O Israel!

Exult not like the peoples;

for you have ^pplayed the whore, forsaking your God.

You have loved a prostitute’s wages

on all threshing floors.

2  Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,

and the new wine shall fail them.

3  They shall not remain in the land of the Lord,

but Ephraim shall ^qreturn to Egypt,

and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

4  They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,

and their ^rsacrifices shall not please him.

It shall be like ^smourners’ bread to them;

all who eat of it shall be defiled;

for their bread shall be for their hunger only;

it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

5  What will you do on the day of the ^tappointed festival,

and on the day of the feast of the Lord?

6  For behold, they are going away from destruction;

but Egypt shall gather them;

Memphis shall bury them.

Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;

thorns shall be in their tents.

7  The ^udays of punishment have come;

the days of recompense have come;

Israel shall know it.

The prophet is a fool;

the man of the spirit is mad,

because of your great iniquity

and great hatred.

8  The prophet is the ^vwatchman of Ephraim with my God;

yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,

and hatred in the house of his God.

9  They have deeply corrupted themselves

^was in the days of Gibeah:

he will ^xremember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins.

10  Like grapes in the wilderness,

I found Israel.

Like the first fruit on the fig tree

in its first season,

I saw your fathers.

^yBut they came to Baal-peor

and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and became detestable like the thing they loved.

11  Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—

no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!

12  Even if they bring up children,

I will bereave them till none is left.

^zWoe to them

when I depart from them!

13  Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm¹ planted in a meadow;

but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.²

14  Give them, O Lord—

what will you give?

Give them a miscarrying womb

and dry breasts.

15  Every evil of theirs is in ^aGilgal;

there I began to hate them.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of my house.

I will love them no more;

^ball their princes are rebels.

16  Ephraim is stricken;

their root is dried up;

they shall bear no fruit.

Even though they give birth,

I will put their beloved children to death.

17  My God will reject them

because they have not listened to him;

they shall be wanderers among the nations.

10  Israel is a luxuriant vine

that yields its fruit.

^cThe more his fruit increased,

the more ^daltars he built;

as his country improved,

he improved his pillars.

2  Their heart is false;

now they must bear their guilt.

The Lord¹ will break down their altars

and destroy their pillars.

3  For now they will say:

“We have no king,

for we do not fear the Lord;

and a king—what could he do for us?”

4  They utter mere words;

with empty^{2 e}oaths they make covenants;

so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds

in the furrows of the field.

5  The inhabitants of Samaria tremble

for the calf³ of ^fBeth-aven.

Its people mourn for it, and so do its ^gidolatrous priests—

those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—

for it has departed⁴ from them.

6  The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria

as tribute to the ^hgreat king.⁵

Ephraim shall be put to shame,

and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.⁶

7  ⁱSamaria’s king shall perish

like a twig on the face of the waters.

8  The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,

shall be destroyed.

Thorn and thistle shall grow up

on their altars,

and ^jthey shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”

and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

9  From the days of ^kGibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;

there they have continued.

Shall not the war against the unjust⁷ overtake them in Gibeah?

10  When I please, I will discipline them,

and nations shall be gathered against them

when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

11  Ephraim was a trained calf

that loved to thresh,

and I spared her fair neck;

but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;

Judah must plow;

Jacob must harrow for himself.

12  Sow for yourselves righteousness;

reap steadfast love;

^lbreak up your fallow ground,

for it is the time to seek the Lord,

that he may ^mcome and rain ⁿrighteousness upon you.

13  ^oYou have plowed iniquity;

you have reaped injustice;

you have eaten the fruit of lies.

Because you have trusted in your own way

and in the multitude of your warriors,

14  therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,

and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,

as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;

mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

15  Thus it shall be done to you, O ^pBethel,

because of your great evil.

At dawn the king of Israel

shall be utterly cut off.

11  When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and ^qout of Egypt I called ^rmy son.

2  The more they were called,

the more they went away;

they kept sacrificing to the Baals

and ^sburning offerings to idols.

3  ^tYet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;

I took them up by their arms,

but they did not know that ^uI healed them.

4  I led them with cords of kindness,¹

with the bands of love,

and I became to them as one who eases the ^vyoke on their jaws,

and I bent down to them and ^wfed them.

5  They shall not² return to the land of Egypt,

but Assyria shall be their king,

because they have refused to return to me.

6  The sword shall rage against their cities,

consume the bars of their gates,

and devour them because of their own counsels.

7  My people are bent on ^xturning away from me,

and though they call out to the Most High,

he shall not raise them up at all.

8  How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

^yHow can I make you like Admah?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

9  I will not execute my burning anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for ^zI am God and not a man,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come in wrath.³

10  They shall go after the Lord;

^ahe will roar like a lion;

when he roars,

^bhis children shall come trembling from the west;

11  they shall come trembling like birds ^cfrom Egypt,

and like doves from the land of Assyria,

and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.

12  ⁴ Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,

and the house of Israel with deceit,

but Judah still walks with God

and is faithful to the Holy One.

12  Ephraim feeds on the wind

and pursues the east wind all day long;

they multiply falsehood and violence;

^dthey make a covenant with Assyria,

and oil is carried to Egypt.

2  ^eThe Lord has an indictment against Judah

and will punish Jacob according to his ways;

he will repay him according to his deeds.

3  ^fIn the womb he took his brother by the heel,

and ^gin his manhood he strove with God.

4  He strove with the angel and prevailed;

he wept and sought his favor.

He met God¹ at ^hBethel,

and there God spoke with us—

5  the Lord, the God of hosts,

ⁱthe Lord is his memorial name:

6  “So you, by the help of your God, ^jreturn,

^khold fast to love and justice,

and ^lwait continually for your God.”

7  A merchant, in whose hands are ^mfalse balances,

he loves to oppress.

8  Ephraim has said, “Ah, but ⁿI am rich;

I have found wealth for myself;

in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.”

9  I am the Lord your God

from the land of Egypt;

I will again make you dwell in tents,

^oas in the days of the appointed feast.

10  I spoke to the prophets;

it was I who multiplied visions,

and through the prophets gave parables.

11  If there is iniquity in ^pGilead,

they shall surely come to nothing:

in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;

their ^qaltars also are like stone heaps

on the furrows of the field.

12  ^rJacob fled to the land of Aram;

^sthere Israel served for a wife,

and for a wife he guarded sheep.

13  By a ^tprophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,

and by a prophet he was guarded.

14  Ephraim has given bitter provocation;

so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him

and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.