8Hosea 8

The Condemns Israel for Idol Worship

1The Lord says, “Sound the alarm! Enemies are swooping down on my land like eagles! My people have broken the covenant I made with them and have rebelled against my teaching.Select Hosea 8:1

2Even though they call me their God and claim that they are my people and that they know me,Select Hosea 8:2

3they have rejected what is good. Because of this their enemies will pursue them.Select Hosea 8:3

4“My people chose kings, but they did it on their own. They appointed leaders, but without my approval. They took their silver and gold and made idols—for their own destruction.Select Hosea 8:4

5I hate the gold bull worshiped by the people of the city of Samaria. I am furious with them. How long will it be before they give up their idolatry?Select Hosea 8:5

6An Israelite craftsman made the idol, and it is not a god at all! The gold bull worshiped in Samaria will be smashed to pieces!Select Hosea 8:6

7When they sow the wind, they will reap a storm! A field of grain that doesn't ripen can never produce any bread. But even if it did, foreigners would eat it up.Select Hosea 8:7

8Israel has become like any other nation and is as useless as a broken pot.Select Hosea 8:8

9Stubborn as wild donkeys, the people of Israel go their own way. They have gone off to seek help from Assyria and have paid other nations to protect them.Select Hosea 8:9

10But now I am going to gather them together and punish them. Soon they will writhe in pain when the emperor of Assyria oppresses them.Select Hosea 8:10

11“The more altars the people of Israel build for removing sin, the more places they have for sinning!Select Hosea 8:11

12I write down countless teachings for the people, but they reject them as strange and foreign.Select Hosea 8:12

13They offer sacrifices to me and eat the meat of the sacrifices. But I, the Lord, am not pleased with them, and now I will remember their sin and punish them for it; I will send them back to Egypt!Select Hosea 8:13

14“The people of Israel have built palaces, but they have forgotten their own Maker. The people of Judah have built fortified cities. But I will send fire that will burn down their palaces and their cities.”Select Hosea 8:14