Hosea 13:1-3

New International Reader's Version

13 When the tribe of Ephraim spoke,
    the other tribes trembled with fear.
    Ephraim was honored in Israel.
But its people sinned by worshiping Baal.
    So they were as good as dead.
² Now they sin more and more.
    They use their silver
    to make statues of gods for themselves.
The statues come from their own clever ideas.
    Skilled workers make all of them.
The people pray to these gods.
    They offer human sacrifices to them.
    They kiss the gods that look like calves.
³ So these people will vanish like the morning mist.
    They will soon disappear like the early dew.
They will be like straw
    that the wind blows around on a threshing floor.
They will be like smoke
    that escapes through a window.