Hosea 13

1 When Ephraim speaketh tremblingly, He hath been lifted up in Israel, When he becometh guilty in Baal he dieth.⋮

2 And now do they add to sin, And make to them a molten image of their silver, By their own understanding — idols, A work of artisans — all of it, Of them they say, who are sacrificers among men, 'The calves let them kiss.'⋮

3 Therefore they are as a cloud of the morning, And as dew, rising early, going away, As chaff tossed about out of a floor, And as smoke out of a window.⋮

4 And I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, And a God besides Me thou dost not know, And a Saviour — there is none save Me.⋮

5 I — I have known thee in a wilderness, In a land of droughts.⋮

6 According to their feedings they are satiated, They have been satiated, And their heart is lifted up, Therefore they have forgotten Me,⋮

7 And I am to them as a lion, As a leopard by the way I look out.⋮

8 I do meet them as a bereaved bear, And I rend the enclosure of their heart.⋮

9 And I consume them there as a lioness, A beast of the field doth rend them.⋮

10 Thou hast destroyed thyself, O Israel, But in Me is thy help, Where is thy king now — And he doth save thee in all thy cities? And thy judges of whom thou didst say, 'Give to me a king and heads?'⋮

11 I give to thee a king in Mine anger, And I take away in My wrath.⋮

12 Bound up is the iniquity of Ephraim, Hidden is his sin,⋮

13 Pangs of a travailing woman come to him, He is a son not wise, For he remaineth not the time for the breaking forth of sons.⋮

14 From the hand of Sheol I do ransom them, From death I redeem them, Where is thy plague, O death? Where thy destruction, O Sheol? Repentance is hid from Mine eyes.⋮

15 Though he among brethren produceth fruit, Come in doth an east wind, a wind of Jehovah, From a wilderness it is coming up, And it drieth up his fountain, And become dry doth his spring, It — it spoileth a treasure — every desirable vessel.⋮

16 Become desolate doth Samaria, Because she hath rebelled against her God, By sword they do fall, Their sucklings are dashed in pieces, And its pregnant ones are ripped up!⋮