3. Now the Israelites say, “We have no king. We don’t honor the Lord. And his king cannot do anything to us.”
4. They make promises, but they are only telling lies. They don’t keep their promises. They make agreements with other countries. God does not like those agreements. The judges are like poisonous weeds growing in a plowed field.
5. The people from Samaria worship the calves at Beth Aven. They will cry. The priests will cry, because their beautiful idol is gone. It was carried away.
6. It was carried away as a gift to the great king of Assyria. He will keep Ephraim’s shameful idol. Israel will be ashamed of its idol.
7. Samaria’s false god will be destroyed. It will be like a piece of wood floating away on the water’s surface.