Hosea 8:5-14

5People of Samaria, you have made an image of a calf as your idol. But I hate that idol! I am very angry with the Israelites. How much longer will it be before I have to punish them?

6That idol is not a true god! An Israelite worker with special skills made it. Samaria's idol of a calf will break into pieces!

7Like a farmer, Israel's people have planted the wind. So their harvest will be a strong storm! The crops that grow in their fields will not have any grain. So they will not be able to make flour for bread. Even if the crops do make some grain, foreign people will take it for themselves.

8Israel will become lost among the other nations. It will be like a useless pot that nobody needs.

9Israel's rulers have gone to Assyria for help. They are like a wild donkey that goes here and there. Ephraim's people have paid money to get help from other nations. as if they are paying for lovers.

10Yes, they have paid money to get friends who will help them. But I will soon bring them together to punish them. A great king will be cruel to them and they will receive much pain.

11Ephraim's people have built many altars to make sin offerings. But the altars have become places where the people do even more sins!

12I carefully explained my laws to my people. But they do not accept my laws as their own.

13Israel's people offer sacrifices to me, and they eat the meat from those sacrifices. But their sacrifices do not please me. I know that they are guilty of wicked things. Soon I will punish them for their sins. They will have to return to Egypt.

14Israel's people have built beautiful palaces. But they have forgotten me, who made them into a nation! Judah's people have built many strong cities. But I will send fire to destroy their cities and their strong buildings.’