< Osee 13 >
1 According to the word of Ephraim he adopted ordinances for himself in Israel; and he established them for Baal, and died.
2 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 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 vapour from tears.
4 But I am the Lord your God that establishes the heaven, and creates the earth, whose hands have framed the whole host of heaven: but I showed them not to you that you should go after them: and I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but me; and there is no Saviour beside me.
5 I tended you as a shepherd in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land.
6 According to their pastures, so they were completely filled; and their hearts were exalted; therefore they forgot me.
7 And I will be to them as a panther, and as a leopard.
8 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 O Israel, who will aid [you] in your destruction?
10 Where is this your king? let him even save you in all your cities: let him judge you, of whom you said, Give me a king and a prince.
11 And I gave you a king in mine anger, and kept [him] back in my wrath.
12 Ephraim [has framed] a conspiracy of unrighteousness, his sin is hidden.
13 Pains as of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is your wise son, because he shall not stay in the destruction of [your] children.
14 I will deliver [them] out of the power of Hades, and will redeem them from death: where is your penalty, O death? O Hades, where is your sting? comfort is hidden from mine eyes. (Sheol )
15 Forasmuch as he will cause a division amongst [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 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.
