8 Set the trumpet to your lips! [The enemy] comes as a [great] vulture against the house of the Lord, because they have broken My covenant and transgressed against My law.

² Then they will cry to Me, My God, we [of Israel] know You!

³ Israel has rejected the good [with loathing]; the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴ They set up kings, but not from Me [therefore without My blessing]; they have made princes or removed them [without consulting Me; therefore], I knew and recognized [them] not. With their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves, that they [the silver and the gold] may be destroyed.

⁵ Your calf [idol], O Samaria, is loathsome and I have spurned it. My wrath burns against them. How long will it be before they attain purity?

⁶ For this [calf] too is from Israel; a craftsman made it; therefore it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to shivers and go up in flames.

⁷ For they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, strangers and aliens would eat it up.

⁸ Israel is [as if] swallowed up. Already they have become among the nations as a vessel [of cheap, coarse pottery] that is useless.

⁹ For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass taking her own way by herself; Ephraim has hired lovers.

¹⁰ Yes, though with presents they hire [allies] among the nations, now will I gather them up, and in a little while they will sorrow and begin to diminish [their gifts] because of the burden (tribute) imposed by the king of princes [the king of Assyria].

¹¹ For Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning; yes, to him altars are intended for sinning.

¹² I wrote for him the ten thousand things of My law, but they are counted as a strange thing [as something which does not concern him].

¹³ My sacrificial gifts they sacrifice [as a mere form]; yes, they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now He will [earnestly] remember their guilt and iniquity and will punish their sins. They shall return to [another] Egypt [Assyria].^(A)

¹⁴ For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces and idol temples, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities and it shall devour his palaces and fortified buildings.^(B)

9 Rejoice not, O Israel, with exultation as do the peoples, for you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved [a harlot’s] hire upon every threshing floor [ascribing the harvest to the Baals instead of to God].

² The threshing floor and the winevat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them.

³ They shall not remain in the Lord’s land, but Ephraim shall return to [another] Egypt and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.^(A)

⁴ They shall not pour out wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing to Him. Their sacrifices shall be to them as the bread of mourners; all who eat of them shall be defiled, for their bread shall be [only] for their appetite; it shall not come into the house of the Lord [to be offered first to Him].

⁵ What will you do on the day of the appointed solemn assembly or festival and on the day of the feast of the Lord [when you are in exile]?

⁶ For behold, they are gone away from devastation and destruction; Egypt shall gather them in; Memphis shall bury them. Their precious things of silver shall be in the possession of nettles; thorns shall be [growing] in their tents.

⁷ The days of visitation and punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is [considered] a crazed fool and the man who is inspired is [treated as if] mad or a fanatic, because of the abundance of your iniquity and because the enmity, hostility, and persecution are great.^(B)

⁸ Ephraim was [intended to be] a watchman with my God [and a prophet to the surrounding nations]; but he, that prophet, has become a fowler’s snare in all his ways. There is enmity, hostility, and persecution in the house of his God.

⁹ They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. The Lord will [earnestly] remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.^(C)

¹⁰ I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe fruit on the fig tree in its first season, but they went to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to that shameful thing [Baal], and they became detestable and loathsome like that which they loved.

¹¹ As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird; there shall be no birth, no being with child, and [because of their impurity] no becoming pregnant.

¹² Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them so that not a man shall be left; yes, woe also to them when I look away and depart from them!

¹³ Ephraim, as I have seen with Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place, but Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer.

¹⁴ Give them [their due], O Lord! [But] what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

¹⁵ All their wickedness [says the Lord] is focused in Gilgal, for there I hated them; for the wickedness of their [idolatrous] doings I will drive them out of My house [the Holy Land]; I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.^(D)

¹⁶ Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit. Yes, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even their beloved children.

¹⁷ My God will cast them away because they did not listen to and obey Him, and they shall be wanderers and fugitives among the nations.

25 Now when Festus had entered into his own province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

² And [there] the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid charges before him against Paul, and they kept begging and urging him,

³ Asking as a favor that he would have him brought to Jerusalem; [meanwhile] they were planning an ambush to slay him on the way.

⁴ Festus answered that Paul was in custody in Caesarea and that he himself planned to leave for there soon.

⁵ So, said he, let those who are in a position of authority and are influential among you go down with me, and if there is anything amiss or criminal about the man, let them so charge him.

⁶ So when Festus had remained among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea, took his seat the next day on the judgment bench, and ordered Paul to be brought before him.

⁷ And when he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood all around him, bringing many grave accusations against him which they were not able to prove.

⁸ Paul declared in [his own] defense, Neither against the Law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in any way.

⁹ But Festus, wishing to ingratiate himself with the Jews, answered Paul, Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be put on trial [^[a]before the Jewish Sanhedrin] in my presence concerning these charges?

¹⁰ But Paul replied, I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you know ^[b]better [than your question implies].

¹¹ If then I am a wrongdoer and a criminal and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not beg off and seek to escape death; but if there is no ground for their accusations against me, no one can give me up and make a present of me [^[c]give me up freely] to them. I appeal to Caesar.

¹² Then Festus, when he had consulted with the [^[d]men who formed his] council, answered, You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.

¹³ Now after an interval of some days, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus [to welcome him and wish him well].

¹⁴ And while they remained there for many days, Festus acquainted the king with Paul’s case, telling him, There is a man left a prisoner in chains by Felix;

¹⁵ And when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him, petitioning for a judicial hearing and condemnation of him.