# Hosea 8 
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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. 
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2. To me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.” 
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3. Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. 
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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. 
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5. I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? 
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6. For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. 
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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. 
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8. Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. 
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9. For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. 
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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. 
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11. Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. 
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12. Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. 
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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. 
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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. 

(ESV)