Relentless Judgment on Israel

13 When Ephraim spoke, trembling,

He exalted himself in Israel;

But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.

2 Now they sin more and more,

And have made for themselves molded images,

Idols of their silver, according to their skill;

All of it is the work of craftsmen.

They say of them,

“Let 1the men who sacrifice 2kiss the calves!”

3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud

And like the early dew that passes away,

aLike chaff blown off from a threshing floor

And like smoke from a chimney.

4 “Yet bI am the Lord your God

Ever since the land of Egypt,

And you shall know no God but Me;

For cthere is no savior besides Me.

5 dI 3knew you in the wilderness,

eIn the land of 4great drought.

6 fWhen they had pasture, they were filled;

They were filled and their heart was exalted;

Therefore they forgot Me.

7 “So gI will be to them like a lion;

Like ha leopard by the road I will lurk;

8 I will meet them ilike a bear deprived of her cubs;

I will tear open their rib cage,

And there I will devour them like a lion.

The 5wild beast shall tear them.

9 “O Israel, 6you are destroyed,

But 7your help is from Me.

10 8I will be your King;

jWhere is any other,

That he may save you in all your cities?

And your judges to whom kyou said,

‘Give me a king and princes’?

11 lI gave you a king in My anger,

And took him away in My wrath.

12 “The miniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

His sin is stored up.

13 nThe sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.

He is an unwise son,

For he should not stay long where children are born.

14 “I will ransom them from the 9power of 1the grave;

I will redeem them from death.

oO Death, 2I will be your plagues!

O 3Grave, 4I will be your destruction!

pPity is hidden from My eyes.

15 Though he is fruitful among his brethren,

qAn east wind shall come;

The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness.

Then his spring shall become dry,

And his fountain shall be dried up.

He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.

16 Samaria 5is held guilty,

For she has rrebelled against her God.

They shall fall by the sword,

Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,

And their women with child sripped open.