Ephraim’s Idolatry
aWhen Ephraim spoke, there was trembling.
He blifted himself up in Israel,
But through cBaal he became guilty and died.
2 And now they sin more and more
And make for themselves amolten images,
Idols bmade from their silver according to their understanding,
All of them the cwork of craftsmen.
They are saying of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the dcalves!”
3 Therefore they will be like the amorning cloud
And like dew which soon disappears,
Like bchaff which is blown away from the threshing floor
And like csmoke from a chimney.
4 Yet I have been aYahweh your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know bany god except Me,
And there is no savior cbesides Me.
5 I Myself aknew you in the wilderness,
bIn the land of drought.
6 As they had their pasture, then they became asatisfied,
Indeed, they were satisfied, and their bheart became raised up;
Therefore they cforgot Me.
7 So I will be alike a lion to them;
Like a bleopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.
8 I will encounter them alike a bear robbed of her cubs,
And I will tear open the chest enclosing their heart;
There I will also bdevour them like a lioness,
As a beast of the field would rip them open.
9 It is your ruin, O Israel,
That 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 said,
“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;
His sin is astored up.
13 The pains of achildbirth come upon him;
He is bnot a wise son,
For it is not the time that he should cdelay at the opening of the womb.
14 Shall I aransom them from the power 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 ais fruitful among the reeds,
An beast wind will come,
The wind of Yahweh 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 desirable article.
16 Samaria will be held aguilty,
For she has brebelled against her God.
cThey will fall by the dsword;
Their infants will be edashed in pieces,
And their pregnant fwomen will be ripped open.