Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning!

The more the priests increased in numbers, the more they rebelled against me. They have turned their glorious calling into a shameful disgrace!

O Israel, you have sinned since the time of Gibeah, and there you have remained. Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah?

Even now they persist in sin! They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is a saying about them: “Those who sacrifice to the calf idol are calf kissers!”