Hosea 13

1 When Ephraim spoke [there was] trembling; he was exalted in Israel, and he became guilty by the Baal, and he died.

2 And now they add to sin, and have made for themselves molten images idols from their silver according to their skill, the work of craftsmen, all of them. They say of them, “Those who sacrifice man, they will kiss the calves.”

3 Therefore they will be like the cloud of morning, and like the dew rising early that passes away, like chaff that swirls from the threshing floor, and like smoke from a window.

4 For I [am] YHWH your God, from the land of Egypt; and you know no gods besides Me, and no one is able to save besides Me!

5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

6 At their grazing, they became satisfied; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; upon thus they forgot Me!

7 And I will become to them like a lion; like a leopard alongside the pathway I will watch.

8 I will encounter them like a bear bereaved, and I will tear open the enclosure of their heart; there I will devour them like a lion; a beast of the field will tear them apart.

9 He has destroyed you, O Israel, for [you are] against Me, against your helper!

10 Where [is] your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your rulers of whom you said, “Give to me a king and princes”?

11 I gave to you a king in My anger, and I took [him] away in My wrath.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is stored up.

13 The pains of childbirth will come to him; he [is] not a wise a son, for he would not stand at the time for the breaking forth of sons.

14 I will ransom them from the hand of Sheol; will I redeem them from death. Where [are] your plagues, O Death? Where [is] is your destruction, O Grave? Compassion is hidden from My eyes!

15 Though he is fruitful among [his] brothers an east wind will come, the wind of YHWH! From the desert [it is] coming up, and his fountain will become dry, and his spring will dry out; it will plunder the treasure of every article of desire.

16 Samaria is guilty, for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their infants will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.