The enemies will be like a storm wind
1The Lord said:
‘You must blow the trumpet
and warn the people,
because the enemies are coming.
They are like eagles
that fly above the temple.
This happens because the Israelites
have broken the covenant with Me.
They do not want to listen to Me.
2They call Me and say:
“You are our God.
We are your people, the Israelites. We serve You.”
3But they have stopped doing good,
and that is why enemies will attack them.
4They chose kings and officials to lead them,
but they did not ask Me whom they must choose.
They made images of gold and silver.
That is why the enemies will kill them.
5They made an image of a bull-calf in Samaria.
I hate that and I am very angry with them.
How long will they stay impure? Always?
6That image is not a god.
It was an Israelite who made it with his hands.
That is why the enemies
will break that image of the calf
in Samaria into pieces.
7The people of Samaria were like a wind,
but the enemies will be like a storm wind.
The enemies will eat
the little wheat that you harvest.
They will eat everything.
8The Israelites are suffering
among the other nations. No one likes them
9because they went to Assyria to find lovers.
The people of Ephraim are
like wild donkeys that are alone.
10They tried to find lovers among other nations,
but now they will suffer even more than before.
I will make them stay at one place
and the king of Assyria
will make them pay a lot of taxes.
11Yes, the people of Ephraim
have built many altars
and they have sinned at all those altars.
12I have written down
all my laws for them,
but they lived as if they
did not know anything about it.
13They gave Me offerings,
but they ate the meat themselves.
I do not accept those offerings.
I will remember the sin they did
and I will punish them.
They will have to go back to Egypt.
14The Israelites have forgotten
that it is I who made them.
They and the people of Judah
built beautiful houses,
and strong walls around the towns and cities.
But I will send fire,
and the fire will burn down
their towns and cities
and their big and strong houses.’
