8:1Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
8:2Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
8:3Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
8:4They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.
8:5Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
8:6For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
8:7For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
8:8Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
8:9For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
8:10Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
8:11Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.
8:12I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
8:13They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
8:14For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
9:1Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.
9:2The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.
9:3They shall not dwell in the LORD'S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
9:4They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.
9:5What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?
9:6For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.
9:7The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.
9:8The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.
9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
9:10I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.
9:11As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
9:12Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
9:13Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.
9:14Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
9:15All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.
9:16Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.
9:17My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
10:1Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
10:2Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
10:3For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
10:4They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
10:5The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
10:6It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
10:7As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.
10:8The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
10:9O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
10:10It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
10:11And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
10:12Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
10:13Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
10:14Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
10:15So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.