Hosea 13

¹When Ephraim spoke , there was trembling ; he was exalted in Israel , but he incurred guilt through Baal and died .

²And now they sin more and more , and make for themselves metal images , idols skillfully made of their silver , all of them the work of craftsmen . It is said of them, Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves !

³Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away , like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window .

⁴But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt ; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior .

⁵It was I who knew you in the wilderness , in the land of drought ;

⁶but when they had grazed , they became full , they were filled , and their heart was lifted up ; therefore they forgot me.

⁷So I am to them like a lion ; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way .

⁸I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast , and there I will devour them like a lion , as a wild beast would rip them open.

⁹He you , O Israel , for you are against me, against your helper .

¹⁰Where now is your king , to save you in all your cities ? Where are all your rulers — those of whom you said , Give me a king and princes ?

¹¹I gave you a king in my anger , and I took him away in my wrath .

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up ; his sin is kept in store.

¹³The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son , for at the right time he does not present himself at the opening of the womb .

¹⁴Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol ? Shall I redeem them from Death ? O Death , where are your plagues ? O Sheol , where is your sting ? Compassion is hidden from my eyes .

¹⁵Though he may flourish among his brothers , the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come , rising from the wilderness , and his fountain shall dry up ; his spring shall be parched ; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing .

¹⁶Samaria shall bear her guilt , because she has rebelled against her God ; they shall fall by the sword ; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.