Hosea 013

English Standard Version

The Lord's Relentless Judgment on Israel

13 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
    ^(A)he was exalted in Israel,
    but he incurred guilt ^(B)through Baal and died.
²And now they sin more and more,
    and ^(C)make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
    ^(D)all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
    “Those who offer human sacrifice ^(E)kiss calves!”
³Therefore they shall be ^(F)like the morning mist
    or ^(G)like the dew that goes early away,
^(H)like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
    or ^(I)like smoke from a window.

⁴But ^(J)I am the Lord your God
    from the land of Egypt;
^(K)you know no God but me,
    and ^(L)besides me there is no savior.
⁵^(M)It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought;
⁶^(N)but when they had grazed,^[a] they became full,
    ^(O)they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
    ^(P)therefore they forgot me.
⁷So ^(Q)I am to them like a lion;
    ^(R)like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
⁸I will fall upon them ^(S)like a bear robbed of her cubs;
    I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
    ^(T)as a wild beast would rip them open.

⁹He destroys^[b] you, O Israel,
    for you are against me, against ^(U)your helper.
¹⁰^(V)Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
    Where are all your rulers—
those of whom ^(W)you said,
    “Give me a king and princes”?
¹¹^(X)I gave you a king in my anger,
    and ^(Y)I took him away in my wrath.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is ^(Z)bound up;
    his sin is ^(AA)kept in store.
¹³^(AB)The pangs of childbirth come for him,
    but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
    ^(AC)at the opening of the womb.

¹⁴^(AD)I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    ^(AE)I shall redeem them from Death.^[c]
^(AF)O ^(AG)Death, where are your plagues?
    ^(AH)O ^(AI)Sheol, where is your sting?
    ^(AJ)Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵Though ^(AK)he may flourish among his brothers,
    ^(AL)the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,
    rising from the wilderness,
^(AM)and his fountain shall dry up;
    his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip ^(AN)his treasury
    of every precious thing.
¹⁶^[d] Samaria ^(AO)shall bear her guilt,
    because ^(AP)she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
    ^(AQ)their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
    and their ^(AR)pregnant women ripped open.

Footnotes

Hosea 13:6 Hebrew according to their pasture
Hosea 13:9 Or I will destroy
Hosea 13:14 Or Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death?
Hosea 13:16 Ch 14:1 in Hebrew