Hosea 13

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

According to the word of Ephraim he adopted ordinances for himself in Israel; and he established them for Baal, and died.

2 Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!”

And now they have sinned increasingly, and have made for themselves a molten image of their silver, according to the fashion of idols, the work of artificers accomplished for them: they say, Sacrifice men, for the calves have come to an end.

3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.

Therefore shall they be as a morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away, as chaff blown away from the threshing-floor, and as a vapor from tears.

4 Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me.

But I am the Lord thy God that establishes the heaven, and creates the earth, whose hands have framed the whole host of heaven: but I shewed them not to thee that thou shouldest go after them: and I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me; and there is no Saviour beside me.

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

I tended thee as a shepherd in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land.

6 When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me.

According to their pastures, so they were completely filled; and their hearts were exalted; therefore they forgot me.

7 So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

And I will be to them as a panther, and as a leopard.

8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast would tear them apart.

I will meet them by the way of the Assyrians, as a she-bear excited, and I will rend the caul of their heart, and the lions' whelps of the thicket shall devour them there; the wild beasts of the field shall rend them in pieces.

9 You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against Me— against your helper.

O Israel, who will aid [thee] in thy destruction?

10 Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?

Where is this thy king? let him even save thee in all thy cities: let him judge thee, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and a prince.

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

And I gave thee a king in mine anger, and kept [him] back in my wrath.

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

Ephraim [has framed] a conspiracy of unrighteousness, his sin is hidden.

13 Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.

Pains as of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is thy wise son, because he shall not stay in the destruction of [thy] children.

14 I 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 sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes. (Sheol h7585)

I will deliver [them] out of the power of Hades, and will redeem them from death: where is thy penalty, O death? O Hades, where is thy sting? comfort is hidden from mine eyes. (Sheol h7585)

15 Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come— a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

Forasmuch as he will cause a division among [his] brethren, the Lord shall bring upon him an east wind from the desert, and shall dry up his veins [and] quite drain his fountains: he shall dry up his land, and [spoil] all his precious vessels.

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

Samaria shall be utterly destroyed: for she has resisted her God; they shall fall by the sword, and their sucklings shall be dashed against the ground, and their women with child ripped up.