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Israel Reaps the Whirlwind

^1 (C1)Set the trumpet to your lips announcing impending judgment!
^(C2)Like a great vulture the enemy comes ^(C3)against the house of the LORD,
Because they have ^(C4)broken My covenant
And transgressed and rebelled against My ^(C5)law.

² Then ^(C1)they will cry out to Me,
"My God, ^(C2)we of Israel know You!"

³ Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy shall pursue him.

^4 (C1)They set up kings, but not from Me therefore without My blessing;
They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.
With their ^(C2)silver and their gold they made idols for themselves,
That they might be cut off.

⁵ He has rejected your pagan ^(C1)calf, O Samaria, saying,
"My wrath burns against them."
How long will they be incapable of ^(C2)innocence?

⁶ For even this loathsome calf is from Israel.
A ^(C1)craftsman made it, so it is not God;
Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces and go up in flames.

⁷ For ^(C1)they sow the wind in evil
And they reap the ^(C2)whirlwind in disaster.
The standing grain has ^(C3)no growth;
It yields no grain.
If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it up.

⁸ Israel is as if ^(C1)swallowed up by enemies;
They are now among the nations
Like a ^(C2)vessel of cheap, coarse pottery that is useless.

⁹ For they have gone up to ^(C1)Assyria,
^(C2)Like a wild donkey wandering alone and taking her own way;
Ephraim has ^(C3)hired lovers (pagan allies).

¹⁰ Yes, even though with presents they hire allies among the nations,
Now I will ^(C1)gather them up;
And in a little while they will begin ^(F1)(C2)to grow weak and diminish
Because of the burden imposed by the ^(C3)king of princes the king of Assyria.

¹¹ For Ephraim has ^(C1)constructed many altars for sin;
They are altars intended for sinning which multiply his guilt.

^12 (C1)I wrote for him the ten thousand precepts of My ^(C2)law,
But they are regarded as a strange thing which does not concern him.

¹³ As for My ^(C1)sacrificial offerings,
They ^(C2)sacrifice the meat as a mere formality and eat it,
But the LORD is not pleased with them and does not accept them.
Now He will ^(C3)remember and take into account their wickedness and guilt,
And ^(C4)punish them for their sins.
They will return in captivity to another ^(C5)Egypt that is, Assyria. ^(VR1)

¹⁴ For Israel has ^(C1)forgotten his Maker and ^(C2)built palaces and pagan temples,
And Judah has built many fortified cities;
But I will send a ^(C3)fire upon their cities so that it may consume their palaces and fortresses. ^(VR1)