8:1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he cometh against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
8:2 They shall cry unto me, My God, we Israel know thee.
8:3 Israel hath cast off that which is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
8:4 They 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.
8:5 He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
8:6 For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God; yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
8:7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: he hath no standing grain; the blade shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.
8:8 Israel is swallowed up: now are they among the nations as a vessel wherein none delighteth.
8:9 For they are gone up to Assyria, like a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
8:10 Yea, though they hire among the nations, now will I gather them; and they begin to be diminished by reason of the burden of the king of princes.
8:11 Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars for sinning, altars have been unto him for sinning.
8:12 I wrote for him the ten thousand things of my law; but they are counted as a strange thing.
8:13 As for the sacrifices of mine offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but Jehovah accepteth them not: now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
8:14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and builded palaces; and Judah hath multiplied fortified cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the castles thereof.
9:1 Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, like the peoples; for thou hast played the harlot, departing from thy God; thou hast loved hire upon every grain-floor.
9:2 The threshing-floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her.
9:3 They shall not dwell in Jehovah’s land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
9:4 They shall not pour out wine-offerings to Jehovah, 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 shall be for their appetite; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.
9:5 What will ye do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah?
9:6 For, lo, they are gone away from destruction; yet Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents.
9:7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad, for the abundance of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great.
9:8 Ephraim was a watchman with my God: as for the prophet, a fowler’s snare is in all his ways, and enmity in the house of his God.
9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
9:10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at its first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
9:11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird: there shall be no birth, and none with child, and no conception.
9:12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, so that not a man shall be left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
9:13 Ephraim, like as I have seen Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer.
9:14 Give them, O Jehovah—what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
9:15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters.
9:16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.
9:17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.