Yahweh’s Judgment on Idolatrous Israel

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

1. Hebrew “speaks”

² And now they sin again, and they make for themselves a molten idol, idols from their silver metal according to their understanding, all of them the work of skilled craftsmen. To these they say, “Sacrifice!” People are kissing bull calves.

³ Therefore, they will be like the morning cloud, and like the dew of early morning going away, like chaff swirling from the threshing floor, or like smoke from a window.

⁴ I am Yahweh your God since¹ the land of Egypt; you know no god except me, and no one saves besides me.

1. Or “from”

⁵ I fed you¹ in the desert, in the land of drought.

1. So LXX; Hebrew “I knew you”

⁶ When I fed them,¹ they were satisfied; they were satisfied and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

1. Hebrew “According to their pasture”

⁷ And I will be like a lion to them; I lie in wait beside the way, like a leopard.

⁸ I will attack them like a bear robbed of her offspring, and I will tear open the covering of their heart; there I will devour them like a lion, like an animal of the field would mutilate them.

⁹ I will destroy you,¹ O Israel; who will help you?²

1. Hebrew “He destroys you”
2. Hebrew “for in me, in your help”

¹⁰ Where now is your king that he may save you? Where in all your cities are your judges, of whom you said, “Give to me a king and rulers?”

¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him in my wrath.

¹² The sin of Ephraim is wrapped up; his sin is concealed.

¹³ The labor pains of childbirth come for him; he is an unwise son because at the proper time, he does not present himself ⌞at the mouth of the womb⌟.¹

1. Literally “the place where the sons burst forth”

¹⁴ Should I redeem them from ⌞the power⌟¹ of Sheol?² Should I deliver them from death? Where are your plagues, O Death? Where is your destruction, O Sheol?³ Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

1. Literally “the hand”
2. “Sheol” is a Hebrew term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the underworld
3. “Sheol” is a Hebrew term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the underworld

¹⁵ Although he may flourish among reeds,¹ the east wind will come, a wind of Yahweh rising from the desert; his fountain will dry up, his spring will be parched. It will plunder his treasury,² every object of desire.

1. Hebrew “brothers”
2. Or “its treasury”

^{16 1} Samaria will be guilty, because she has rebelled against her God; they will fall by the sword, their children will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.

1. Hosea 13:16–14:9 in the English Bible is 14:1–10 in the Hebrew Bible