8 ¹Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. ²Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. ³Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him. ⁴They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

⁵Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? ⁶For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. ⁷For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. ⁸Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. ⁹For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers. ¹⁰Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. ¹¹Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin. ¹²I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. ¹³They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt. ¹⁴For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

9 ¹Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor. ²The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. ³They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. ⁴They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD. ⁵What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD? ⁶For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles. ⁷The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. ⁸The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. ⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins. ¹⁰I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved. ¹¹As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. ¹²Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! ¹³Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. ¹⁴Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. ¹⁵All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters. ¹⁶Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb. ¹⁷My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

10 ¹Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. ²Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images. ³For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us? ⁴They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. ⁵The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. ⁶It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. ⁷As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water. ⁸The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. ⁹O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. ¹⁰It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. ¹¹And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. ¹²Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. ¹³Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. ¹⁴Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. ¹⁵So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

11 ¹When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. ²As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. ³I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. ⁴I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.

⁵He shall not return into the land of Egypt, and the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return. ⁶And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels. ⁷And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him. ⁸How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. ⁹I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. ¹⁰They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. ¹¹They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD. ¹²Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.