1When Ephraim spoke, people trembled. He was lifted high in Israel. But he did wrong through Baal, and he died.
2And now they sin more and more. They have made metal images from their silver, idols shaped by their own ideas, all of it the work of craftsmen. They say of them, "Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves."
3So they will be like the morning cloud, and like the early dew that fades away, like chaff blown by the whirlwind from the threshing floor, and like smoke out of a chimney.
4Yet I am the LORD your God, from the land of Egypt. You shall know no god but me, for there is no saviour besides me.
5I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
6When they had their pasture, they were filled. They were filled, and their heart grew proud. So they forgot me.
7So I will be like a lion to them. Like a leopard by the road I will watch for them.
8I will meet them like a bear robbed of her cubs. I will tear open the covering of their heart. There I will devour them like a lion. The wild beast will tear them apart.
9Israel, you have destroyed yourself. But your help is in me.
10I will be your king. Where is anyone else who can save you in all your cities? Where are your judges, of whom you said, "Give me a king and princes"?
11I gave you a king in my anger, and took him away in my fury.
12The wrongdoing of Ephraim is tied up in a bundle. His sin is stored away.
13The pains of a woman in labour will come on him. He is a son without wisdom, for he does not come out when the time has come for birth.
14I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. Death, I will be your plagues. Grave, I will be your destruction. Pity will be hidden from my eyes.
15Though he bears fruit among his brothers, an east wind will come. The wind of the LORD will come up from the wilderness. His spring will fail, and his fountain will be dried up. The enemy will plunder the store of every precious thing.
16Samaria will be left waste, for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their little children will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.