1. When Ephraim spoke, men trembled; he was exalted in Israel, But he became guilty of Baal
worship and died.
2. Now they sin more and more; They make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly
fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, "They offer
human sacrifice and kiss the calf-idols."
3. Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff
swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping through a window.
4. "But I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, You shall acknowledge no God
but me, no Savior except me.
5. I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat.
6. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they
forgot me.
7. So I will come upon them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
8. Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open. Like a lion I will devour
them; a wild animal will tear them apart.
9. "Your are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me, agaisnt your helper.
10. Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom
you said, 'Give me a king and princes?
11. So in my anger I gave you a king, and in my wrath I took him away.
12. The guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on record.
13. Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him, but he is a child without wisdom; when the time
arrives, he does not come to the opening of the womb.
14. "I will ransome them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O
death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? "I will have no compassion,
15. even though he thrives among his brothers. An east wind from the LORD will come, blowing in
from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His storehouse will be plundered of all
its treasures.
16. The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They
will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped
open."
