1Put the trumpet to your [a]lips!

Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the LORD,

Because they have violated My covenant

And rebelled against My Law.

2They cry out to Me,

“My God, we of Israel know You!”

3Israel has rejected the good;

The enemy will pursue him.

4They have set up kings, but not by Me;

They have appointed officials, but I did not know it.

With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,

So that [b]they will be eliminated.

5[c]He has rejected your calf, Samaria, saying,

“My anger burns against them!”

How long will they be incapable of innocence?

6For from Israel comes even this!

A craftsman made it, so it is not God;

Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to [d]pieces.

7For they sow wind

And they harvest a storm.

The standing grain has no [e]kernels;

It yields no [f]grain.

If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.

8Israel has been swallowed up;

They are now among the nations

Like a vessel in which no one delights.

9For they have gone up to Assyria,

Like a wild donkey all alone;

Ephraim has paid fees for [g]lovers.

10Even though they [h]pay for allies among the nations,

I will gather them up now;

And they will begin to diminish

Because of the burden of the king of officials.

11Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin,

They have become altars of sinning for him.

12Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My Law,

They are regarded as a strange thing.

13As for My sacrificial gifts,

They sacrifice the flesh and eat it,

But the LORD has taken no delight in them.

Now He will remember their guilt,

And punish them for their sins;

They will return to Egypt.

14For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;

And Judah has multiplied fortified cities,

But I will send a fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.