Hosea 8

Put the ram's horn to your mouth and blow the alarm! An enemy is sweeping down like an eagle on the house of the LORD, because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.

1Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

Note"Ram's horn": a hollowed-out animal horn (shofar) blown as a signal; here it is the alarm warning a town that an army is coming. The bird named in the Hebrew covers both eagles and large vultures, creatures that drop out of the sky onto prey, and stands for an invading army. "House of the LORD" can mean the temple building, or, more broadly, the land and people as God's own household. A "covenant" was a binding sworn agreement, like a treaty; this one is the agreement at Sinai in which Israel became God's people and took on his law.

2Israel cries out to me, "My God, we know you!"

2Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.

3But Israel has thrown away what is good, so an enemy will chase him down.

3Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.

4They set up kings, but not by my choice. They appointed leaders without my approval. Out of their silver and their gold they made themselves idols, and it will be their ruin.

4They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

NoteIn Hosea's time the northern kingdom went through kings at speed: several were assassinated by the men who then took the throne, four of them within about fifteen years. In the southern kingdom of Judah, by contrast, a single family held the throne for centuries. "Not by my choice" points at this succession of coups.

5Samaria, that calf of yours is cast off. My anger burns against these people. How long will they be unable to be innocent?

5Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

NoteSamaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom, and the name is used for the whole kingdom. The "calf" is a gold-plated young bull; when the northern tribes broke away from Jerusalem, King Jeroboam set up such images at Bethel and Dan as the kingdom's official shrines, so that people would not travel south to worship. Bulls were a standard emblem of divine strength across the region. The Hebrew of the first line can be read either way ("he (God) has rejected your calf" or "your calf has rejected you") and translators differ.

6That calf came from Israel itself. A workman made it, so it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be smashed to pieces.

6For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

NoteThe point of "it came from Israel itself" is that the image was manufactured locally by a human craftsman rather than being anything that came down from heaven.

7They plant the wind, and they will harvest a windstorm. There is no standing grain; the sprouts will produce no flour. And if they did produce any, foreigners would swallow it up.

7For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

Note"Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind" is a proverb: what they planted was nothing at all, and what comes back is a destroying storm. The rest of the verse is a picture of crop failure (no stalk grows, the sprouts never fill out into grain that can be ground into flour) and if anything did grow, invading foreigners would seize it as plunder or tribute.

8Israel is swallowed up. Now the people live among the other nations like a pot that nobody wants.

8Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

9They have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering off on its own. Ephraim has paid others to be his lovers.

9For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

NoteEphraim was the largest tribe of the north, and Hosea uses the name throughout as another word for the whole northern kingdom. Assyria was the empire of northern Mesopotamia, the dominant military power of the age; Israel's kings paid it tribute to buy protection and survival. A wild donkey that strays off alone is cut off from the herd and easily taken. "Paid others to be his lovers" inverts the usual image: a prostitute is the one who gets paid, but Israel hands over money to attract partners: that is, buys foreign alliances with tribute.

10Even though they buy allies among the nations, I will now round them up. They will soon begin to waste away under the load laid on them by the king of princes.

10Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.

Note"King of princes" is most likely a title for the Assyrian emperor, who styled himself great king over lesser kings. The Hebrew of the middle of this verse is uncertain; it may mean they will begin to writhe, or to dwindle away, under the weight of the tribute payments demanded of them.

11Ephraim built many altars for sin, and those altars became the very places where he sinned.

11Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

NoteThere is wordplay here that English cannot easily carry: the same Hebrew word covers both "sin" and "sin-offering." The altars were built to handle sin through sacrifice, and they became the places where the offense itself was committed.

12I wrote out for him the great teachings of my law, but he counted them as something strange and foreign.

12I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

Note"I wrote out for him" refers to law given in written form rather than by word of mouth. "Strange" here has its older sense of foreign, belonging to some other nation, no business of theirs.

13They offer sacrifices as gifts to me and eat the meat, but the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their guilt and punish their sins. They will go back to Egypt.

13They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

NoteAt these sacrifices part of the animal was burned on the altar and the rest eaten by the worshipers as a shared meal, so eating the meat was a normal part of the rite, not an abuse. "Go back to Egypt" reverses the founding story of the nation, the escape from slavery in Egypt; it means returning to bondage. Since Hosea elsewhere names Assyria as the actual place of exile, Egypt here works as both a threat and a figure for it.

14Israel has forgotten his Maker and has built palaces, and Judah has built many walled cities. But I will send fire on their cities, and it will burn up their strongholds.

14For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

NoteThe King James "temples" translates a Hebrew word that means palaces or large fortified buildings, not places of worship. Judah is the southern kingdom, with its capital at Jerusalem, a separate state from Israel/Ephraim in the north, and named here alongside it. "Walled cities" and "strongholds" are fortified towns and their fortified inner buildings; burning them is the standard description of a city taken by siege.