At that time the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped you.
But you do see! Indeed, you note trouble and grief, that you may take it into your hands; the helpless commit themselves to you; you have been the helper of the orphan.
On that day people will throw away to the moles and to the bats their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship,
Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces; no sacred poles or incense altars will remain standing.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!
The Egyptians are human and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and the one helped will fall, and they will all perish together.
They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Ephraim herds the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a treaty with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.
And now they keep on sinning and make a cast image for themselves, idols of silver made according to their understanding, all of them the work of artisans. “Sacrifice to these,” they say. People are kissing calves!
My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles. For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have prostituted themselves, forsaking their God.
When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound.
On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more, and also I will remove from the land the prophets and the unclean spirit.
Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You must never return that way again.’