Hosea, 13

1. When Ephraim used to speak, all trembled; he was a power in Israel; but once he had incurred guilt with Baal, he died.

1. When E'phraim spoke, men trembled; he was exalted in Israel; but he incurred guilt through Ba'al and died.

2. And now they compound their sins by casting images for themselves out of their silver, idols of their own invention, the work of craftsmen, all of it! 'Sacrifice to them,' they say! Men bestow kisses to calves!

2. And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves molten images, idols skilfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. Sacrifice to these, they say. Men kiss calves!

3. That is why they will be like morning mist, like the dew that quickly disappears, like the chaff whirled from the threshing-floor, like smoke escaping through the window.

3. Therefore 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.

4. But I have been Yahweh your God since your days in Egypt when you knew no god but me, since you had no one else to save you.

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

5. I cared for you in the desert, in the land of dreadful drought.

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

6. I pastured them, and they were satisfied; once satisfied, their hearts grew proud, and therefore they forgot me.

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

7. So now I shall be like a lion to them, like a leopard I shall lurk beside the road,

7. So I will be to them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

8. like a bear robbed of her cubs I shall meet them and rend the membrane of their heart, and there like a lioness I shall eat them, like a wild beast tear them to shreds.

8. I 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 rend them.

9. Israel, you have destroyed yourself though in me lies your help.

9. I will destroy you, O Israel; who can help you?

10. Your king, where is he now, to save you, or the governors in all your cities? - whom you once pleaded for, saying, 'Give me a king and princes!'

10. Where now is your king, to save you; where are all your princes, to defend you -- those of whom you said, "Give me a king and princes"?

11. In my anger I gave you a king and in my wrath I have taken him away.

11. I have given you kings in my anger, and I have taken them away in my wrath.

12. Ephraim's guilt is packed away, his sin is locked up.

12. The iniquity of E'phraim is bound up, his sin is kept in store.

13. Pangs as of childbirth overtake him, and a stupid child he is; his time is due, but he does not leave the womb.

13. The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; for now he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb.

14. Shall I save them from the clutches of Sheol? Shall I buy them back from Death? Where are your plagues, Death? Where are your scourges, Sheol? Compassion will be banished from my sight!

14. Shall 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 destruction? Compassion is hid from my eyes.

15. Though Ephraim bears more fruit than his brothers, the wind from the East will come, Yahweh's breath blowing up from the desert to dry his spring, to dry up his fountain, to strip his treasury of everything worth having.

15. Though he may flourish as the reed plant, 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.

16.

16. Sama'ria 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.