הושע ח

[Put] a ram’s horn to your mouth—
Like an eagle over the House of GOD;
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And been faithless to My teaching.

Israel cries out to Me,
“O my God, we are devoted to You.”

Israel rejects what is good;
An enemy shall pursue him.

They have made kings,
But not with My sanction;
They have made officers,
But not of My choice.
Of their silver and gold
They have made themselves images,
To their own undoing.

I reject your calf, Samaria!
I am furious with them!
Will they never be capable of purity?

For it was Israel’s doing;
It was only made by a joiner,
It is not a god.
No, the calf of Samaria shall be
Reduced to splinters!

They sow wind,
And they shall reap whirlwind—
Standing stalks devoid of ears
And yielding no flour.
If they do yield any,
Strangers shall devour it.

Israel is bewildered;, which means “bewildered” here (cf. Isa. 28.7), is a homonym of the verb that means “devour” in the preceding verse.
They have now become among the nations
Like an unwanted vessel,

[Like] a lonely wild ass.
For they have gone up to Assyria,
Ephraim has courted friendship.

And while they are courting among the nations,
There I will hold them fast;
And they shall begin to diminish in number
From the burden of king [and] officers.

For Ephraim has multiplied altars—for guilt;
His altars have redounded to his guilt:

The many teachings I wrote for him
Have been treated as something alien.

When they present sacrifices to Me,
It is but flesh for them to eat:
GOD has not accepted them.
Behold, their iniquities will be remembered,
Their sins will be punished:
Back to Egypt with them!

Israel has ignored his Maker
And built temples
(And Judah has fortified many cities).
So I will set fire to his cities,
And it shall consume their fortresses.