¹When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he lifted himself up in Israel, but he became guilty through Baal and died.

²And now they go on adding to sin; they made for themselves a cast image from their silver, idols according to their understanding, all of it the work of craftsmen. Of them they say, “Let those who sacrifice among men kiss calves!”

³Therefore they will be like the morning cloud, like the dew that rises early and goes, like chaff driven by a storm from the threshing floor, and like smoke from the window.

⁴And I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt; you do not know a God apart from me, and there is no deliverer except me.

⁵I knew you in the wilderness, in a land of drought.

⁶As their pasture was, they were satisfied; they were satisfied, and their heart rose high; therefore they forgot me.

⁷So I became like a lion to them; like a leopard by the road I lurk.

⁸I will meet them like a bear robbed of cubs, and tear open the casing of their heart; there I will devour them like a lion, and the beast of the field will split them open.

⁹It has ruined you, O Israel, for in me is your helper.

¹⁰Where is your king, then, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, “Give me a king and officials”?

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

¹²The guilt of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hidden.

¹³The pangs of a woman giving birth come upon him; he is a son who is not wise, for at the time he will not take his stand at the birth-opening of children.

¹⁴From the hand of Sheol I will ransom them; from death I will redeem them. Where are your pestilences, O death? Where is your destruction, O Sheol? Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵Though he bears fruit as a son among brothers, an east wind will come, the wind of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; his spring will dry up, and his fountain will be parched; it will plunder the treasury of every precious article.

¹⁶Samaria will bear her guilt, for she rebelled against her God; by the sword they will fall; their infants will be dashed to pieces, and her pregnant women ripped open.