8:1 Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. 8:2 To me they cry, "My God, we--Israel--know you." 8:3 Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. 8:4 They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. 8:5 I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence 8:6 For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. 8:7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it. 8:8 Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. 8:9 For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. 8:10 Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute. 8:11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. 8:12 Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. 8:13 As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. 8:14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds.