8:1 Sound the alarm!
An eagle
For they have broken their covenant with me,
and have rebelled against my law.
8:2 Israel cries out to me,
“My God, we acknowledge you!”
8:3 But Israel has rejected what is morally good;
so an enemy will pursue him.
8:4 They enthroned kings without my consent!
They appointed princes without my approval!
They made idols out of their silver and gold,
but they will be destroyed!
8:5 O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol!
My anger burns against them!
They will not survive much longer without being punished,
even though they are Israelites!
8:6 That idol was made by a workman – it is not God!
The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.
8:7 They sow the wind,
and so they will reap the whirlwind!
The stalk does not have any standing grain;
it will not produce any flour.
Even if it were to yield grain,
foreigners would swallow it all up.
8:8 Israel will be swallowed up among the nations;
they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.
8:9 They have gone up to Assyria,
like a wild donkey that wanders off.
Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers.
8:10 Even though they have hired lovers among the nations,
I will soon gather them together for judgment.
Then
under the oppression of a mighty king.
8:11 Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning!
8:12 I spelled out my law for him in great detail,
but they regard it as something totally unknown
8:13 They offer up sacrificial gifts to me,
and eat the meat,
but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices.
Soon he will remember their wrongdoing,
he will punish their sins,
and they will return to Egypt.
8:14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces,
and Judah has built many fortified cities.
But I will send fire on their cities;
it will consume their royal citadels.
9:1 O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly
for you are unfaithful
You love to receive a prostitute's wages
on all the floors where you thresh your grain.
9:2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people,
and new wine only deceives them.
9:3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.
Ephraim will return to Egypt;
they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.
9:4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord;
they will not please him with their sacrifices.
Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning;
all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean.
For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite;
it will not come into the temple of the Lord.
9:5 So what will you do on the festival day,
on the festival days of the Lord?
9:6 Look!
Egypt will take hold
and Memphis will bury them.
The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure
thorn bushes will occupy their homes.
9:7 The time of judgment
The time of retribution
Let Israel know!
The prophet is considered a fool
the inspired man
because of the multitude of your sins
and your intense
9:8 The prophet
yet traps
animosity rages against him in the land
9:9 They have sunk deep into corruption
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their wrongdoing.
He will repay them for their sins.
9:10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness.
I viewed your ancestors
Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame –
they became as detestable as what they loved.
9:11 Ephraim will be like a bird;
what they value
They will not bear children –
they will not enjoy pregnancy –
they will not even conceive!
9:12 Even if they raise their children,
I will take away every last one of them.
Woe to them!
For I will turn away from them.
9:13 Just as lion cubs are born predators,
so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.
9:14 Give them, O Lord –
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry,
and breasts that cannot nurse!
9:15 Because of all their evil in Gilgal,
I hate them there.
On account of their evil deeds,
I will drive them out of my land.
I will no longer love them;
all their rulers are rebels.
9:16 Ephraim will be struck down
their root will be dried up;
they will not yield any fruit.
Even if they do bear children,
I will kill their precious offspring.
9:17 My God will reject them,
for they have not obeyed him;
so they will be fugitives among the nations.
10:1 Israel was a fertile vine
that yielded fruit.
As his fruit multiplied,
he multiplied altars to Baal.
As his land prospered,
they adorned the fertility pillars.
10:2 Their heart is slipping;
soon they will be punished for their guilt.
The Lord
he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.
10:3 Very soon they will say, “We have no king
since we did not fear the Lord.
But what can a king do for us anyway?”
10:4 They
taking
Therefore legal disputes sprout up
like poisonous weeds
10:5 The inhabitants
Its people will mourn over it;
its idolatrous priests will wail
because its splendor will be taken from them
10:6 Even the calf idol
as tribute for the great king.
Ephraim will be disgraced;
Israel will be put to shame because
10:7 Samaria and its king will be carried off
like a twig
10:8 The high places of the “House
it is the place where Israel sins.
Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
10:9 O Israel, you have sinned since the time
and there you have remained.
Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah?
10:10 When I please,
I will gather nations together to attack them,
to bind them in chains
10:11 Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain;
I myself put a fine yoke
I will harness Ephraim.
Let Judah plow!
Let Jacob break up
10:12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,
reap unfailing love.
Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves,
for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes and showers deliverance
10:13 But you have plowed wickedness;
you have reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you have depended on your chariots;
you have relied
10:14 The roar of battle will rise against your people;
all your fortresses will be devastated,
just as Shalman devastated
when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.
10:15 So will it happen to you, O Bethel,
because of your great wickedness!
When that day dawns,
the king of Israel will be destroyed.