Ephraim’s Idolatry

1 aWhen Ephraim 1spoke, there was trembling.

He bexalted himself in Israel,

But through cBaal he 2did wrong and died.

2 And now they sin more and more,

And make for themselves amolten images,

Idols 1bskillfully made from their silver,

All of them the cwork of craftsmen.

They say of them, “Let the 2men who sacrifice kiss the dcalves!”

3 Therefore they will be like the amorning cloud

And like dew which 1soon disappears,

Like bchaff which is blown away from the threshing floor

And like csmoke from a 2chimney.

4 Yet I have been the aLord your God

Since the land of Egypt;

And you were not to know bany god except Me,

For there is no savior cbesides Me.

5 I 1acared for you in the wilderness,

bIn the land of drought.

6 As they had their pasture, they became asatisfied,

And being satisfied, their bheart became proud;

Therefore they cforgot Me.

7 So I will be alike a lion to them;

Like a bleopard I will 1lie in wait by the wayside.

8 I will encounter them alike a bear robbed of her cubs,

And I will tear open 1their chests;

There I will also bdevour them like a lioness,

As a wild beast would tear them.

9 It is your destruction, O Israel,

1That you are aagainst Me, against your bhelp.

10 Where now is your aking

That he may save you in all your cities,

And your bjudges of whom you 1requested,

“Give me a king and princes”?

11 I agave you a king in My anger

And btook him away in My wrath.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

His sin is astored up.

13 The pains of achildbirth come upon him;

He is bnot a wise son,

For 1it is not the time that he should cdelay at the opening of the womb.

14 Shall I aransom them from the 1power of Sheol?

Shall I redeem them from death?

bO Death, where are your thorns?

O Sheol, where is your sting?

cCompassion will be hidden from My sight.

15 Though he aflourishes among the 1reeds,

An beast wind will come,

The wind of the Lord coming up from the wilderness;

And his fountain will cbecome dry

And his spring will be dried up;

It will dplunder his treasury of every precious article.

16 1Samaria will be held aguilty,

For she has brebelled against her God.

cThey will fall by the dsword,

Their little ones will be edashed in pieces,

And their pregnant fwomen will be ripped open.