13
Ephraim’s Idolatry
1 AWhen Ephraim
1spoke,
there was trembling.
He
Bexalted himself in Israel,
But through
CBaal he
2did wrong and died.
2 And now they sin more and more,
And make for themselves
Amolten images,
Idols
1Bskillfully made from their silver,
All of them the
Cwork of craftsmen.
They say of them, “Let the
2men who sacrifice kiss the
Dcalves!”
3 Therefore they will be like the
Amorning cloud
And like dew which
1soon disappears,
Like
Bchaff which is blown away from the threshing floor
And like
Csmoke from a
2chimney.
4 Yet I
have been the
ALoʀᴅ your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know
Bany god except Me,
For there is no savior
Cbesides Me.
5 I
1Acared for you in the wilderness,
6 As
they had their pasture, they became
Asatisfied,
And being satisfied, their
Bheart became proud;
Therefore they
Cforgot Me.
7 So I will be
Alike a lion to them;
Like a
Bleopard I will
1lie in wait by the wayside.
8 I will encounter them
Alike a bear robbed of her cubs,
And I will tear open
1their chests;
There I will also
Bdevour them like a lioness,
As a wild beast would tear them.
9 It is your destruction, O Israel,
1That
you are Aagainst Me, against your
Bhelp.
10 Where now is your
Aking
That he may save you in all your cities,
And your
Bjudges of whom you
1requested,
“Give me a king and princes”?
11 I
Agave you a king in My anger
And
Btook him away in My wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
13 The pains of
Achildbirth come upon him;
For
1it is not the time that he should
Cdelay at the opening of the womb.
14 Shall I
Aransom them from the
1power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from death?
BO Death, where are your thorns?
O Sheol, where is your sting?
CCompassion will be hidden from My sight.
15 Though he
Aflourishes among the
1reeds,
The wind of the Loʀᴅ coming up from the wilderness;
And his fountain will
Cbecome dry
And his spring will be dried up;
It will
Dplunder
his treasury of every precious article.
16 1Samaria will be held
Aguilty,
For she has
Brebelled against her God.
CThey will fall by the
Dsword,
Their little ones will be
Edashed in pieces,
And their pregnant
Fwomen will be ripped open.