Sowing the Wind, Reaping the Storm
8 1 Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle swoops over my house, because they have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law. 2 To me they cry, "My Father! We know you—we, Israel!" a a v2 Israel cries out claiming to know the Father even while rejecting his ways—words of intimacy from a heart turned away. 3 Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. 4 They set up kings, but not from me; they appointed princes, and I knew nothing of it. With their silver and gold they made themselves idols, only to be cut off. 5 I have rejected your calf, Samaria; my anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6 For this calf is from Israel; a craftsman made it—it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces. 7 They sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it yields no flour. And if it were to yield, foreigners would swallow it down. 8 Israel is swallowed up; now they are among the nations like a pot no one wants. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria—a wild donkey wandering off alone. Ephraim has hired itself out to lovers. b b v9 'Lovers' are the foreign nations Israel paid for military protection — Hosea's running metaphor of Israel as an unfaithful wife chasing after other partners. 10 Even though they hire allies among the nations, now I will gather them up. And they will soon writhe under the burden of the king of princes. c c v10 'The king of princes' is the Assyrian emperor — the great overlord above all vassal kings — whose tribute burden Israel would soon bear. 11 Because Ephraim multiplied altars for sinning, they have become altars for sinning to him. 12 Though I wrote out for him the countless things of my law, they were treated as something strange. 13 As for the sacrifices they offer me, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but I take no delight in them. Now I will remember their guilt 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.