8 Put a trumpet to your lips!
        It’s as if a bird of prey has flown over the Lord’s house,
    because they have broken my covenant,
        and have not kept my Instruction.
² Israel cries to me,
        “My God, we know you!”
³ Israel has turned away from the good;
        the enemy will pursue him.
⁴ They set up kings, but not through me;
        they chose princes, but without my knowledge.
    With silver and gold they crafted idols
        for their own destruction.
⁵ Your calf is rejected, Samaria.
        My anger burns against them.
        How long will they remain guilty?
⁶ The calf is from Israel,
        a person made it;
        it is not God.
    The calf of Samaria will be smashed.
⁷ Because they sow the wind,
        they will get the whirlwind.
    Standing grain, but no fresh growth;
        it will yield no meal;
    if it were to yield,
        strangers would devour it.

⁸ Israel is swallowed up;
        among the nations, they are now
        like a useless jar.
⁹ They have gone up to Assyria,
        a wild ass wandering alone;
        Ephraim has hired lovers.
¹⁰ Though they have bargained with the nations,
        I will now gather them up.
    They will soon be diminished
        due to the burden of kings and princes.
¹¹ When Ephraim added more altars to take away sin,
        they became altars to him for sinning.
¹² Even though I write out for him a large number of my instructions,
        they are regarded as strange.
¹³ Though they offer choice sacrifices,^[a]
        though they eat flesh,
        the Lord doesn’t accept them.
    Now he will remember their wickedness
        and punish their sins;
        they will return to Egypt.
¹⁴ Israel has forgotten his maker,
        and built palaces;
    and Judah has multiplied walled cities;
        but I will send a fire upon his cities,
        and it will devour his fortresses.