For Israel has forgotten his Maker

This prophecy concerns the time when Israel will be in danger from her enemies. They have violated their covenant with God and the Law, but in that time, they will cry to the Lord. But God remembers their rejection of Him, when they set up their own rulers, made idols using their silver and gold. Their lack of repentance when they asked God for help turns God away.

They are unproductive and their crops will not have a good harvest. They have allied themselves with their pagan neighbours like Assyria, that will one day conquer them. They have build altars and continued the practices of sacrifices and offerings, but they have no understanding or obedience to the Law. Besides the temples, they have also build fortresses to protect themselves, but God declares that He will send fire to destroy the cities, none of the fortresses can withstand it.

covenant, transgresses, rebelled, Israel, Lord, Law, princes, calf, idols, Samaria, innocence, Ephraim, Maker, Egypt, fortified cities,

Hosea 8
The Apostasy of Israel

1 “Set the trumpet[a] to your mouth!
He shall come like an eagle against the house of the Lord,
Because they have transgressed My covenant
And rebelled against My law.
2 Israel will cry to Me,
‘My God, we know You!’
3 Israel has rejected the good;
The enemy will pursue him.
4 “They set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold
They made idols for themselves—
That they might be cut off.
5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
How long until they attain to innocence?
6 For from Israel is even this:
A workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.
7 “They sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
Aliens would swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim has hired lovers.
10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now I will gather them;
And they shall sorrow a little,[b]
Because of the burden[c] of the king of princes.
11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
12 I have written for him the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
13 For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
But the Lord does not accept them.
Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.
14 “For Israel has forgotten his Maker,
And has built temples;[d]
Judah also has multiplied fortified cities;
But I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his palaces.”