1Set the trumpet to your lips!

One like a vulturej is over the house of the Lord,

because they have broken my covenant

and transgressed my law.*

2They cry to me,

“My God, we know you!”k^,*

3Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

4They made kings but not through me;

they set up princes but without my knowledge.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.*

5Your calf is rejected, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence?*

6For it is from Israel,

an artisan made it;

it is not God.

The calf of Samaria

shall be broken to pieces.*

7For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no meal;

if it were to yield,

foreigners would devour it.*

8Israel is swallowed up;

now they are among the nations

as a useless vessel.*

9For they have gone up to Assyria,

a wild ass wandering alone;

Ephraim has bargained for lovers.*

10Though they bargain with the nations,

I will now gather them up.

They shall soon writhe

under the burden of kings and princes.*

11When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sin,

they became to him altars for sinning.

12Though I write for him the multitude of my instructions,

they are regarded as a strange thing.*

13Though they offer choice sacrifices,l

though they eat flesh,

the Lord does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

they shall return to Egypt.*

14Israel has forgotten his Maker

and built palaces,

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities,

but I will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour his strongholds.*