HOSEA
CHAPTER 13

The Lord 's Anger Against Israel

¹ When Ephraim spoke, men trembled;
he was exalted in Israel.
But he became guilty of Baal worship and died.
² Now they sin more and more;
they make idols for themselves from their silver,
cleverly fashioned images,
all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of these people,
"They offer human sacrifice
and kiss ^[1] the calf-idols."
³ Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears,
like chaff swirling from a threshing floor,
like smoke escaping through a window.

⁴ "But I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of ^[2] Egypt.
You shall acknowledge no God but me,
no Savior except me.
⁵ I cared for you in the desert,
in the land of burning heat.
⁶ When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;
then they forgot me.
⁷ So I will come upon them like a lion,
like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
⁸ Like a bear robbed of her cubs,
I will attack them and rip them open.
Like a lion I will devour them;
a wild animal will tear them apart.

⁹ "You are destroyed, O Israel,
because you are against me, against your helper.
¹⁰ Where is your king, that he may save you?
Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
'Give me a king and princes'?
¹¹ So in my anger I gave you a king,
and in my wrath I took him away.
¹² The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
his sins are kept on record.
¹³ Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him,
but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time arrives,
he does not come to the opening of the womb.

¹⁴ "I will ransom them from the power of the grave ^[3] ;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, ^[4] is your destruction?

"I will have no compassion,
¹⁵ even though he thrives among his brothers.
An east wind from the LORD will come,
blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
and his well dry up.
His storehouse will be plundered
of all its treasures.
¹⁶ The people of Samaria must bear their guilt,
because they have rebelled against their God.
They will fall by the sword;
their little ones will be dashed to the ground,
their pregnant women ripped open."

Footnotes

1. 13:2 Or "Men who sacrifice / kiss
2. 13:4 Or God / ever since you were in
3. 13:14 Hebrew Sheol
4. 13:14 Hebrew Sheol

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Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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