Hosea 13

The  Lord’s Relentless Judgment on Israel

1  When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
a he was exalted in Israel,
but he incurred guilt b through Baal and died.
 2 And now they sin more and more,
and c make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
d all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
“Those who offer human sacrifice e kiss calves!”
 3 Therefore they shall be f like the morning mist
or g like the dew that goes early away,
h like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
or i like smoke from a window.
 4  But j I am the  Lord your God
from the land of Egypt;
k you know no God but me,
and l besides me there is no savior.
 5  m It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
in the land of drought;
 6  n but when they had grazed ▼
▼ Hebrew according to their pasture
 they became full,
p they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
q therefore they forgot me.
 7 So r I am to them like a lion;
s like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
 8 I will fall upon them t like a bear robbed of her cubs;
I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
u as a wild beast would rip them open.
 9  He destroys ▼
▼ Or I will destroy
 you, O Israel,
for you are against me, against w your helper.
 10  x Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
Where are all your rulers—
those of whom y you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
 11  z I gave you a king in my anger,
and aa I took him away in my wrath.
 12  The iniquity of Ephraim is ab bound up;
his sin is ac kept in store.
 13  ad The pangs of childbirth come for him,
but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
ae at the opening of the womb.
 14  af Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
ag Shall I redeem them from Death?
ah O ai Death, where are your plagues?
aj O ak Sheol, where is your sting?
al Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
 15  Though am he may flourish among his brothers,
an the east wind, the wind of the  Lord, shall come,
rising from the wilderness,
ao and his fountain shall dry up;
his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip ap his treasury
of every precious thing.
 16  ▼
▼ Ch 14:1 in Hebrew
 Samaria ar shall bear her guilt,
because as she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
at their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
and their au pregnant women ripped open.
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