Hosea 13

¹When Ephraim^a spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel.

But he incurred guilt through Baal,

and he died.

²Now they sin more and more

and make for themselves cast images,

idols skillfully made from their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

People say of them,

“They offer human sacrifice

and kiss the calves!”^a

³Therefore they will be like the morning mist,

like the early dew that vanishes,

like chaff blown from a threshing floor,

like smoke through an open window.

⁴Yet I am the LORD your God

ever since the land of Egypt;

you know no God but Me,

for there is no Savior besides Me.

⁵I knew you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought.

⁶When they had pasture,

they became satisfied;

when they were satisfied,

their hearts became proud,

and as a result they forgot Me.

⁷So like a lion I will pounce on them;

like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

⁸Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them,

and I will tear open their chests.

There I will devour them like a lion,

like a wild beast tearing them apart.

⁹You are destroyed, O Israel,

because you are against Me—

against your helper.

¹⁰Where is your king now^a

to save you in all your cities,

and the rulers to whom you said,

“Give me a king and princes”?

¹¹So in My anger I gave you a king,

and in My wrath I took him away.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

his sin is stored up.

¹³Labor pains come upon him,

but he is an unwise son.

When the time arrives,

he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.

¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of Sheol;

I will redeem them from Death.^a

Where, O Death, are your plagues?

Where, O Sheol, is your sting?^b

Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

¹⁵Although he flourishes among his brothers,

an east wind will come—

a wind from the LORD

rising up from the desert.

His fountain will fail,

and his spring will run dry.

The wind will plunder his treasury

of every precious article.

¹⁶Samaria will bear her guilt

because she has rebelled against her God.

They will fall by the sword;

their little ones will be dashed to pieces,

and their pregnant women ripped open.