Hos 13 | LSB | STEP | When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He lifted himself up in Israel, But through Baal he became guilty and died.

Hosea 13

Ephraim’s Idolatry

1 When Ephraim ^{▼▼Or spoke with trembling}spoke, there was trembling.
He lifted himself up in Israel,
But through Baal he became guilty and died.
2 And now they sin more and more
And make for themselves molten images,
Idols made from their silver according to their understanding,
All of them the work of craftsmen.
They are saying of them, “Let the ^{▼▼Lit sacrificers of mankind}men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning cloud
And like dew which ^{▼▼Lit goes away early}soon disappears,
Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor
And like smoke from a ^{▼▼Lit window}chimney.
4 Yet I have been Yahweh your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know any god except Me,
And there is no savior besides Me.
5 I Myself knew you in the wilderness,
In the land of drought.
6 As they had their pasture, then they became satisfied,
Indeed, they were satisfied, and their heart became raised up;
Therefore they forgot Me.
7 So I will be like a lion to them;
Like a leopard I will ^{▼▼Or watch}lie in wait by the wayside.
8 I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs,
And I will tear open ^{▼▼Lit the enclosure of their heart}the chest enclosing their heart;
There I will also devour them like a lioness,
As a beast of the field would rip them open.
9 It is your ruin, O Israel,
^{▼▼ Or But in Me is your help}That you are against Me, against your help.
10 Where now is your king,
That he may save you in all your cities,
And your judges of whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
11 I gave you a king in My anger
And took him away in My wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
13 The pains of childbirth come upon him;
He is not a wise son,
For ^{▼▼Lit it is the time that he should not tarry at the breaking forth of children}it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.
14 Shall I ransom them from the ^{▼▼Lit hand}power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from death?
O Death, where are your thorns?
O Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion will be hidden from My sight.
15 Though he is fruitful among the ^{▼▼Or brothers}reeds,
An east wind will come,
The wind of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness;
And his fountain will become dry,
And his spring will be dried up;
It will plunder his treasury of every desirable article.
16 ^{▼▼ Ch 14:1 in Heb}Samaria will be held guilty,
For she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword;
Their infants will be dashed in pieces,
And their pregnant women will be ripped open.