^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 [4] ; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, [3] 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."