8:1  Set the trumpet to your lips, for a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have broken my covenant, and transgressed my law.

8:2  To me they cry, My God, we Israel know thee.

8:3  Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him.

8:4  They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.

8:5  I have spurned your calf, O Sama'ria. My anger burns against them. How long will it be till they are pure

8:6  in Israel? A workman made it; it is not God. The calf of Sama'ria shall be broken to pieces.

8:7  For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads, it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, aliens would devour it.

8:8  Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel.

8:9  For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass wandering alone; E'phraim has hired lovers.

8:10  Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And they shall cease for a little while from anointing king and princes.

8:11  Because E'phraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning.

8:12  Were I to write for him my laws by ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.

8:13  They love sacrifice; they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but the LORD has no delight in them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

8:14  For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will