1 Put a trumpet to your mouth, like an eagle over the house of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, because they have transgressed My covenant {berit: sworn bond} and have rebelled against My law.
2 To me they cry, “My God {Elohai: Claimed Protector}, we—Israel—know You {yedanu-kha: professed loyalty}!”
3 Israel has spurned what is good {tov: moral benefit}; an enemy {oyev: hostile attacker} will pursue him.
4 They made kings {himliku: self-appointed royalty}, but not from me; they set up princes, and I did not know them. Their silver and their gold they made into idols {atsabbim: crafted images} for themselves, so that it may be cut off.
5 I {YHWH, Indignant Judge} have rejected your calf {egel: calf-idol}, O Samaria; My anger is kindled against them. How long will they be unable to attain innocence?
6 For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it, and it is not God {Elohim, the true Deity}; for the calf of Samaria will become splinters {shevavim: broken pieces}.
7 For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no head {tsemach: grain head}; it does not yield flour. Even if it should yield, strangers {zarim: hostile outsiders} will swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up; now they have become among the nations like a vessel {keli: ordinary object} in which there is no delight {chefetz: desirable value}.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey {pere: untamed beast} wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers {ahavim: paid companions}.
10 Even though they hire help among the nations, I {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} will now gather them, and they will begin to be diminished a little because of the burden {mimasa: tribute load} of the king of princes.
11 Because Ephraim multiplied {hirbāh: increased purposefully} altars for sinning {la-chātō: to miss the mark}, they became altars to sin for him.
12 If I were to write for him the multitudes of my law {torati: instruction, guidance}, they would be regarded as something foreign {zar: alien, outside the covenant}.
13 They sacrifice the sacrifices of my offerings and eat flesh, but the LORD {YHWH, Rejecter of False Worship} does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity {avonam: moral guilt} and will attend to their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker {osehu: Covenant Former} and has built palaces, and Judah has increased fortified cities; but I {YHWH, Fire-Sender} will send fire into his cities, and it will consume her strongholds.