Hosea 8
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Israel’s False Hopes
8 Put the horn to your mouth!(A)
One like an eagle comes
against the house of the Lord,(B)
because they transgress My covenant(C)
and rebel against My law.(D)
2 Israel cries out to Me,(E)
“My God, we know You!”
3 Israel has rejected what is good;(F)
an enemy will pursue him.
4 They have installed kings,(G)
but not through Me.
They have appointed leaders,
but without My approval.
They make their silver and gold(H)
into idols for themselves
for their own destruction.[a]
5 Your calf-idol[b](I) is rejected, Samaria.(J)
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?(K)
6 For this thing is from Israel—
a craftsman made it,(L) and it is not God.
The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!
7 Indeed, they sow the wind(M)
and reap the whirlwind.(N)
There is no standing grain;
what sprouts fails to yield flour.(O)
Even if they did,
foreigners would swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up!(P)
Now they are among the nations
like discarded pottery.(Q)
9 For they have gone up to Assyria(R)
like a wild donkey going off on its own.
Ephraim has paid for love.(S)
10 Even though they hire lovers among the nations,
I will now round them up,
and they will begin to decrease in number(T)
under the burden of the king and leaders.(U)
11 When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin,(V)
they became his altars for sinning.
12 Though I were to write out for him
ten thousand points of My instruction,(W)
they would be[c] regarded as something strange.
13 Though they offer sacrificial gifts[d](X)
and eat the flesh,(Y)
the Lord does not accept them.
Now He will remember their guilt(Z)
and punish their sins;(AA)
they will return to Egypt.(AB)
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker(AC) and built palaces;(AD)
Judah has also multiplied fortified cities.
I will send fire on their cities,(AE)
and it will consume their citadels.
Footnotes
- Hosea 8:4 Lit themselves that it might be cut off
- Hosea 8:5 Lit calf
- Hosea 8:12 Or Though I wrote out . . . instruction, they are
- Hosea 8:13 Hb obscure
Hosea 8
International Standard Version
Reaping the Wind Storm
8 “Sound the ram’s horn!
Like a vulture[a] the enemy[b] will come against the Temple of the Lord,
because Israel[c] violated my covenant,
transgressing my Law.
2 They cry out to me,
‘God, we of Israel acknowledge you.’
3 “Israel has discarded what is good.
The enemy will pursue them.[d]
4 They set kings in place,
but not by me.
They established princes,
whom I did not recognize.
They crafted idols for themselves from their silver and gold;
as a result, they will be destroyed.
5 Your calf,[e] Samaria, has been thrown away.
My anger is burning against them.
How long until they become pure again?
6 Because from Israel it was fashioned by craftsmen,
it is not God;
therefore Samaria’s calf will be broken in pieces.
7 “Because they sow the wind,
they will reap the wind storm.
The plant has no stalk
and its bud yields no grain.
Even if there’s a harvest,
foreigners will gobble it up.
8 Israel has been devoured;
now they will live among the nations
like a worthless container.
9 “Because they went over to Assyria,
they are like a wild donkey alone by itself.
Ephraim has hired some lovers.
10 Even though they sold themselves to the nations,
I will gather them.
They will mourn for a while
for the burden they were to the king and princes.[f]
11 “The more altars Ephraim builds for sin,
the more altars there will be for sin.
12 I prescribed great things from my Law for them,[g]
but they considered them profane.
13 They offer me meat from the sacrifices of my offerings,
and they eat from it,
but the Lord does not accept them.
He will now remember their transgression
and pay them back for their sins;
to Egypt they will return.
14 “Israel has neglected its maker in building palaces.
Judah has multiplied its fortified cities,
but I will send fire to their cities,
and it will consume their fortresses.”
Footnotes
- Hosea 8:1 Or eagle
- Hosea 8:1 Lit. he
- Hosea 8:1 Lit. they
- Hosea 8:3 Lit. him
- Hosea 8:5 I.e. the idol they crafted (cf. v. 4)
- Hosea 8:10 So LXX. MT king of princes
- Hosea 8:12 Lit. him
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