Hosea 8:7

Normally farmers sowed seed and reaped grain, but Israel had sowed the wind, something foolish and worthless (cf. Job 7:7; Proverbs 11:29; Ecclesiastes 1:14; Ecclesiastes 1:17), namely, idolatry. Consequently instead of reaping something beneficial and nourishing he would reap a whirlwind, something equally vain but also destructive. Sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind may have been a proverb in Israel. [Note: Dyer, p. 732.] The literal seed the Israelites sowed would grow up but not produce any grain, only bare stalks without heads. If the land did yield some grain, strangers would confiscate it and the Israelites would not benefit from it.