Hosea 13

1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty through Baal and died.

2Now they keep on sinning; they make for themselves cast images from their silver, idols skillfully made, all of them the work of craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”

3Therefore they will be like the morning cloud, like the dew that vanishes early, like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke from a window.

4But I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt. You are to know no God but me, and there is no savior except me.

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

6When they had pasture, they were satisfied; they were satisfied, and their heart became proud. Therefore they forgot me.

7So I will be like a lion to them; like a leopard I will lurk beside the road.

8I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs and tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lioness; a wild animal will rip them apart.

9You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, your help.

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

11I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.

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

13The pains of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; when the time comes, he does not present himself at the opening of the womb.

14I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your destruction? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

15Though he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come, a wind from Yahweh rising from the wilderness. His spring will dry up, and his fountain will fail. It will plunder his treasury of every precious thing.

16Samaria must bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little children will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.