Hosea

¹ “Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the Lord because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.

² ‘O our God, we acknowledge you!’

³ an enemy will pursue him.

⁴ they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.

⁵ My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity?

⁶ This calf—a craftsman has made it; it is not God. It will be broken in pieces, that calf of Samaria.

⁷ and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.

⁸ now she is among the nations like a worthless thing.

⁹ like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.

¹⁰ I will now gather them together. They will begin to waste away under the oppression of the mighty king.

¹¹ these have become altars for sinning.

¹² but they regarded them as something alien.

¹³ and they eat the meat, but the Lord is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.

¹⁴ and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire upon their cities that will consume their fortresses.”