Israel Rejects the Good

1 Put to your lips the trumpet

like a vulture over the house of Yahweh,

because they have broken my covenant

and rebelled against my law.

2 They cry out to me,

“My God! We, Israel, know you!”

3 Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy will pursue him.

4 They appointed kings, but not through me;

they made officials, but without my knowledge.

With their silver and gold

they made idols for themselves

for theirown destruction.

5 Your calf is rejected,O Samaria;

my anger burns against them.

How longwill they be incapable of innocence?

6 Because it is from Israel,

an artisan made it,

it is not a god;

for the calf of Samaria

will be broken to pieces.

7 Because they sow the wind,

they will reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain does not have heads;

it will not yield flour.

And if it would yield,

strangers would devour it.

8 Israel is swallowed up;

now they are among the nations,

like an object that no one desires.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria,

a wild donkey alone to itself;

Ephraim has sold itself for lovers.

10 Even though they have sold themselves to the nations,

now I will gather them.

They will soon writhe

from the burden of kingsand princes.

11 When Ephraim multiplied altars

to expiate sins,

they became to him altars to sin on.

12 I write for him myriads of my instruction;

they are regarded as a strange thing.

13 They offer sacrifices of my choice

and they eat flesh;

Yahweh does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

they will return to Egypt.

14 Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces,

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;

but I will send fire on his cities

and it will devour her strongholds.