Hosea 13

1 When the words of my law came from Ephraim, he was lifted up in Israel; but when he did evil through the Baal, death overtook him.

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

2 And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen.

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!”

3 So they will be like the morning cloud, like the dew which goes early away, like the dust of the grain which the wind is driving out of the crushing-floor, like smoke going up from the fireplace.

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.

4 But I am the Lord your God, from the land of Egypt; you have knowledge of no other God and there is no saviour but me.

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.

5 I had knowledge of you in the waste land where no water was.

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

6 When I gave them food they were full, and their hearts were full of pride, and they did not keep me in mind.

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

7 So I will be like a lion to them; as a cruel beast I will keep watch by the road;

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

8 I will come face to face with them like a bear whose young ones have been taken from her, and their inmost hearts will be broken; there the dogs will make a meal of them; they will be wounded by the beasts of the field.

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.

9 I have sent destruction on you, O Israel; who will be your helper?

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

10 Where is your king, that he may be your saviour? and all your rulers, that they may take up your cause? of whom you said, Give me a king and rulers.

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”?

11 I have given you a king, because I was angry, and have taken him away in my wrath.

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

12 The wrongdoing of Ephraim is shut up; his sin is put away in secret.

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

13 The pains of a woman in childbirth will come on him: he is an unwise son, for at this time it is not right for him to keep his place when children come to birth.

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.

14 I will give the price to make them free from the power of the underworld, I will be their saviour from death: O death! where are your pains? O underworld! where is your destruction? my eyes will have no pity. (Sheol h7585)

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)

15 Though he gives fruit among his brothers, an east wind will come, the wind of the Lord coming up from the waste land, and his spring will become dry, his fountain will be without water: it will make waste the store of all the vessels of his desire.

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.

16 Samaria will be made waste, for she has gone against her God: they will be cut down by the sword, their little children will be broken on the rocks, their women who are with child will be cut open.

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.