1Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over Yahweh's house, because they have broken my agreement and rebelled against my law.
2They cry out to me, ‘My God, we people of Israel acknowledge you.’
3Israel has rejected what is good, so their enemies will chase them.
4They appointed kings, but not with my approval. They chose leaders I didn’t approve of. They used their silver and gold to make idols for themselves, which will lead to their destruction.
5Let Samaria throw out its calf idol! My anger burns against them! How long will it take before they become clean?
6This idol is from Israel itself! A craftsman made it, so it is not God. The calf of Samaria will surely be broken into pieces.
7Because they plant the wind, they will harvest a whirlwind. They will have no standing grain. The stalk will produce no head of grain. Even if it does produce something, foreigners will consume it.
8Israel is swallowed up. Now they are among the nations like something worthless.
9They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.
10Even though they sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them; and they are beginning to waste away because of the oppression of the king of powerful rulers.
11Because Ephraim built many altars for sinning, these altars became places where he continued to sin.
12I wrote many of my laws for him, but he treated them as something foreign.
13They offer the sacrifices of my offerings, killing animals and eating the meat; but Yahweh does not accept them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.
14Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has built many fortified cities; but I will send fire on his cities, and it will destroy their fortresses.