| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. | 1Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the LORD! For they have broken their covenant with me, and have rebelled against my law. |
| 2To me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.” | 2Israel cries out to me, "My God, we acknowledge you!" |
| 3Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. | 3But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him. |
| 4They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. | 4They enthroned kings without my consent! They appointed princes without my approval! They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed! |
| 5I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? | 5O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol! My anger burns against them! They will not survive much longer without being punished, even though they are Israelites! |
| 6For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. | 6That idol was made by a workman--it is not God! The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits. |
| 7For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it. | 7They sow the wind, and so they will reap the whirlwind! The stalk does not have any standing grain; it will not produce any flour. Even if it were to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it all up. |
| 8Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. | 8Israel will be swallowed up among the nations; they will be like a worthless piece of pottery. |
| 9For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. | 9They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers. |
| 10Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute. | 10Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, I will soon gather them together for judgment. Then they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king. |
| 11Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. | 11Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning! |
| 12Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. | 12I spelled out my law for him in great detail, but they regard it as something totally unknown to them! |
| 13As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. | 13They offer up sacrificial gifts to me, and eat the meat, but the LORD does not accept their sacrifices. Soon he will remember their wrongdoing, he will punish their sins, and they will return to Egypt. |
| 14For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds. | 14Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces, and Judah has built many fortified cities. But I will send fire on their cities; it will consume their royal citadels. |
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