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. 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.”