The Lord Condemns Israel for Idol Worship

8 The Lord says, “Sound the alarm! Enemies are swooping down on my land like eagles! My people have broken the covenant I made with them and have rebelled against my teaching. ² Even though they call me their God and claim that they are my people and that they know me, ³ they have rejected what is good. Because of this their enemies will pursue them.

⁴ “My people chose kings, but they did it on their own. They appointed leaders, but without my approval. They took their silver and gold and made idols—for their own destruction. ⁵ I hate the gold bull worshiped by the people of the city of Samaria. I am furious with them. How long will it be before they give up their idolatry? ⁶ An Israelite craftsman made the idol, and it is not a god at all! The gold bull worshiped in Samaria will be smashed to pieces! ⁷ When they sow the wind, they will reap a storm! A field of grain that doesn't ripen can never produce any bread. But even if it did, foreigners would eat it up. ⁸ Israel has become like any other nation and is as useless as a broken pot. ⁹ Stubborn as wild donkeys, the people of Israel go their own way. They have gone off to seek help from Assyria and have paid other nations to protect them. ¹⁰ But now I am going to gather them together and punish them. Soon they will writhe in pain when the emperor of Assyria oppresses them.

¹¹ “The more altars the people of Israel build for removing sin, the more places they have for sinning! ¹² I write down countless teachings for the people, but they reject them as strange and foreign. ¹³ They offer sacrifices to me and eat the meat of the sacrifices.^[a] But I, the Lord, am not pleased with them, and now I will remember their sin and punish them for it; I will send them back to Egypt!

¹⁴ “The people of Israel have built palaces, but they have forgotten their own Maker. The people of Judah have built fortified cities. But I will send fire that will burn down their palaces and their cities.”